Bank of America Corp DE Lowers Stock Holdings in Parker-Hannifin Co. (NYSE:PH)

Bank of America Corp DE lowered its stake in Parker-Hannifin Co. (NYSE:PH) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,850,640 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 318,755 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Parker-Hannifin were worth $2,449,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Parker-Hannifin by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,854,774 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,903,962,000 after buying an additional 111,406 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Parker-Hannifin by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,677,092 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,699,580,000 after purchasing an additional 99,261 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Parker-Hannifin by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,502,728 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,591,810,000 after purchasing an additional 198,292 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Parker-Hannifin during the fourth quarter valued at $1,106,132,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Parker-Hannifin by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,600,842 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,018,185,000 after buying an additional 237,634 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.44% of the company’s stock.

Parker-Hannifin Stock Performance

PH opened at $619.37 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $600.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $645.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $79.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.64, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.36. Parker-Hannifin Co. has a 1-year low of $488.45 and a 1-year high of $718.44.

Parker-Hannifin (NYSE:PH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $6.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.72 by $0.22. Parker-Hannifin had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 27.34%. The company had revenue of $4.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.51 EPS. Parker-Hannifin’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Parker-Hannifin Co. will post 26.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Parker-Hannifin Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. This is an increase from Parker-Hannifin’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. Parker-Hannifin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Parker-Hannifin from $564.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Parker-Hannifin from $777.00 to $824.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Parker-Hannifin from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. KeyCorp increased their price target on Parker-Hannifin from $690.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Parker-Hannifin from $795.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Parker-Hannifin has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $711.88.

About Parker-Hannifin

Parker-Hannifin Corporation manufactures and sells motion and control technologies and systems for various mobile, industrial, and aerospace markets worldwide. The company operates through two segments: Diversified Industrial and Aerospace Systems. The Diversified Industrial segment offers sealing, shielding, thermal products and systems, adhesives, coatings, and noise vibration and harshness solutions; filters, systems, and diagnostics solutions to ensure purity and remove contaminants from fuel, air, oil, water, and other liquids and gases; connectors used in fluid and gas handling; and hydraulic, pneumatic, and electromechanical components and systems for builders and users of mobile and industrial machinery and equipment.