Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Cuts Stake in Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lessened its stake in shares of Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) by 16.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,413 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 475 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Textron were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TXT. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Textron by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,793,047 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $305,037,000 after purchasing an additional 521,276 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Textron during the first quarter valued at approximately $45,932,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Textron by 49.3% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,235,966 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $99,396,000 after acquiring an additional 408,290 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Textron by 1,611.9% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 433,100 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $41,547,000 after acquiring an additional 407,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Textron during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,713,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Textron from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on Textron from $111.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Textron from $103.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Textron from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Textron from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.50.

Textron Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:TXT traded up $0.35 on Friday, hitting $85.13. 796,142 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,124,420. Textron Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.78 and a 52 week high of $97.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.97. The company has a market cap of $16.23 billion, a PE ratio of 18.19, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.25.

Textron (NYSE:TXT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The aerospace company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.06. Textron had a return on equity of 16.41% and a net margin of 6.67%. The firm had revenue of $3.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Textron Inc. will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Textron Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.09%. Textron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1.71%.

Insider Activity at Textron

In related news, Director Kathleen M. Bader sold 11,870 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.91, for a total transaction of $1,043,491.70. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $330,189.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.