Wedbush Securities Inc. Trims Stock Position in Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT)

Wedbush Securities Inc. cut its stake in shares of Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) by 17.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,474 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 752 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Textron were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of TXT. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Textron by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 603,171 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $46,137,000 after purchasing an additional 201,696 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Textron by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 4,784 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Textron by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,132 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after purchasing an additional 4,480 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Textron by 10.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 164,029 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $14,505,000 after purchasing an additional 15,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Textron by 44.6% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 17,390 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,367 shares in the last quarter. 86.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Textron

In related news, VP Mark S. Bamford sold 5,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.68, for a total transaction of $396,178.68. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,324,447.64. This represents a 23.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TXT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Textron from $118.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Textron from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Textron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Textron from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Textron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.45.

Textron Stock Performance

NYSE:TXT opened at $66.87 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50-day moving average is $72.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.76. Textron Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.70 and a 1-year high of $96.14.

Textron (NYSE:TXT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The aerospace company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.07. Textron had a net margin of 6.01% and a return on equity of 14.92%. The company had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. Textron’s revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Textron Inc. will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Textron Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.12%. Textron’s dividend payout ratio is currently 1.86%.

Textron Company Profile

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.