Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,720,000 shares, an increase of 25.9% from the May 31st total of 3,750,000 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kathleen M. Bader sold 11,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.91, for a total transaction of $1,043,491.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $330,189.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Textron

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its position in Textron by 93.7% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,474,191 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $115,193,000 after purchasing an additional 713,169 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Textron by 11.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,745,108 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $448,923,000 after purchasing an additional 596,214 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Textron by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,793,047 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $305,037,000 after purchasing an additional 521,276 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Textron in the fourth quarter worth about $394,347,000. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Textron in the first quarter worth about $45,932,000. 86.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Textron Stock Down 0.6 %

TXT stock traded down $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $85.86. 1,845,273 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 959,773. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market cap of $16.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.08. Textron has a 1-year low of $66.43 and a 1-year high of $97.33.

Textron (NYSE:TXT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.29 billion. Textron had a return on equity of 16.30% and a net margin of 6.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Textron will post 6.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Textron Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.09%. Textron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on TXT shares. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Textron from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Textron from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Textron from $103.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Textron from $104.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Textron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, March 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Textron presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.29.

About Textron

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.