State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Trims Position in Hubbell Incorporated (NYSE:HUBB)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lowered its stake in shares of Hubbell Incorporated (NYSE:HUBB) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,263 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 858 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury’s holdings in Hubbell were worth $8,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hubbell by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 12,485 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,230,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in Hubbell by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,281,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in Hubbell by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 14,203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,949,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Natixis raised its stake in shares of Hubbell by 4,634.5% during the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 18,938 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,933,000 after buying an additional 18,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norinchukin Bank The lifted its holdings in shares of Hubbell by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 2,137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $895,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Hubbell from $422.00 to $400.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Hubbell from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Hubbell from $455.00 to $450.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Hubbell from $430.00 to $352.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $449.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hubbell

In other news, insider Alyssa R. Flynn sold 1,164 shares of Hubbell stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $389.06, for a total value of $452,865.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,683,462.62. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hubbell Stock Performance

NYSE HUBB opened at $361.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market cap of $19.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.95. Hubbell Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $299.43 and a fifty-two week high of $481.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $347.36 and a 200-day moving average of $406.69.

Hubbell (NYSE:HUBB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.02 by $0.08. Hubbell had a net margin of 13.82% and a return on equity of 28.62%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Hubbell Incorporated will post 17.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hubbell Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $1.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $5.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. Hubbell’s payout ratio is currently 36.77%.

Hubbell declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to reacquire up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Hubbell

Hubbell Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells electrical and utility solutions in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Electrical Solutions and Utility Solutions. The Electrical Solution segment offers standard and special application wiring device products, rough-in electrical products, connector and grounding products, lighting fixtures, and other electrical equipment for use in industrial, commercial, and institutional facilities by electrical contractors, maintenance personnel, electricians, utilities, and telecommunications companies, as well as components and assemblies.