Benjamin Edwards Inc. Cuts Stake in Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) by 7.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,970 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 316 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Textron were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TXT. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Textron by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 515,200 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $39,408,000 after purchasing an additional 47,767 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Textron by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 38,569 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,950,000 after purchasing an additional 4,858 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Textron during the fourth quarter worth about $22,370,000. GeoWealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Textron by 500.2% during the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 3,529 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 2,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelity National Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Textron by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Fidelity National Financial Inc. now owns 300,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $22,947,000 after purchasing an additional 70,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.03% of the company’s stock.

Textron Stock Performance

NYSE:TXT opened at $78.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.86, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $80.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.74. Textron Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.70 and a fifty-two week high of $91.48.

Textron (NYSE:TXT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. Textron had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 14.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Textron Inc. will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Textron Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Textron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Textron

In related news, EVP Julie G. Duffy sold 28,543 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.37, for a total transaction of $2,265,457.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 37,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,986,216.88. This trade represents a 43.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TXT. UBS Group raised shares of Textron from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Textron from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Textron from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Textron from $71.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Textron from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Textron presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.67.

About Textron

Textron Inc operates in the aircraft, defense, industrial, and finance businesses worldwide. It operates through six segments: Textron Aviation, Bell, Textron Systems, Industrial, Textron eAviation, and Finance. The Textron Aviation segment manufactures, sells, and services business jets, turboprop and piston engine aircraft, and military trainer and defense aircraft; and offers maintenance, inspection, and repair services, as well as sells commercial parts.