Legal & General Group Plc Has $207.61 Million Stake in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) by 24.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,789,466 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 568,941 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.74% of Xylem worth $207,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in XYL. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Xylem by 231.5% in the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,561,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $644,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883,845 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Xylem in the fourth quarter worth approximately $302,734,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in Xylem in the fourth quarter worth approximately $96,658,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Xylem by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,326,024 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $269,865,000 after buying an additional 698,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Xylem by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,683,201 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $427,325,000 after buying an additional 691,618 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Xylem from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup downgraded Xylem from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Xylem from $166.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Xylem in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Xylem has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.89.

Xylem Stock Up 7.5 %

Shares of XYL stock opened at $110.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $123.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.37. Xylem Inc. has a one year low of $100.47 and a one year high of $146.08. The stock has a market cap of $26.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Xylem Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Xylem’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Xylem’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.72%.

About Xylem

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.