Prudential Financial Inc. Boosts Stake in Tennant (NYSE:TNC)

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Tennant (NYSE:TNC) by 11.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 204,226 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 20,627 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 1.08% of Tennant worth $16,651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TNC. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Tennant by 84.3% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 527 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Tennant during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Tennant by 69.5% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 961 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tennant by 43.7% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 839 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Tennant during the fourth quarter valued at about $92,000. 93.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Tennant Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Tennant stock opened at $82.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.86 and a beta of 1.02. Tennant has a 52-week low of $78.57 and a 52-week high of $124.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.12.

Tennant (NYSE:TNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $328.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.00 million. Tennant had a net margin of 6.51% and a return on equity of 19.98%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Tennant will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Tennant announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to repurchase 2,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Tennant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Tennant’s payout ratio is 26.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Barb Balinski sold 1,717 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.42, for a total value of $148,383.14. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,022,262.18. This represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard H. Zay sold 7,053 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.58, for a total transaction of $617,701.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 25,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,256,936.60. This trade represents a 21.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on TNC. StockNews.com cut shares of Tennant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Northcoast Research started coverage on Tennant in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock.

Tennant Company Profile

Tennant Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets floor cleaning equipment in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers a suite of products, including floor maintenance and cleaning equipment, detergent-free and other sustainable cleaning technologies, aftermarket parts and consumables, equipment maintenance and repair services, and asset management solutions.