Martin Currie Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL)

Martin Currie Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) by 54.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,120 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 3,927 shares during the quarter. Martin Currie Ltd.’s holdings in Xylem were worth $1,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Xylem during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Xylem during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Xylem during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Xylem by 69.5% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 317 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Xylem by 122.4% in the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 318 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.96% of the company’s stock.

Xylem Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE XYL opened at $119.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $29.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.63, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.08. Xylem Inc. has a 12 month low of $113.26 and a 12 month high of $146.08. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Xylem (NYSE:XYL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Xylem had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 9.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Xylem Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Xylem Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. This is a positive change from Xylem’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Xylem’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Xylem from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup cut shares of Xylem from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Xylem from $166.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of Xylem in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xylem currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.89.

Xylem Company Profile

Xylem Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and servicing of engineered products and solutions worldwide. It operates through four segments: Water Infrastructure, Applied Water, Measurement & Control Solutions, and Integrated Solutions and Services. The Water Infrastructure segment offers products, including water, storm water, and wastewater pumps; controls and systems; filtration, disinfection, and biological treatment equipment; and mobile dewatering equipment and rental services under the ADI, Flygt, Godwin, Sanitaire, Magneto, Neptune Benson, Ionpure, Leopold, Wedeco, and Xylem Vue brands.