Tennant (NYSE:TNC) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Tennant (NYSE:TNC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday.

Separately, Northcoast Research initiated coverage on shares of Tennant in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock.

Tennant Price Performance

NYSE TNC opened at $85.34 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.48 and a beta of 1.01. Tennant has a 1 year low of $78.57 and a 1 year high of $124.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $84.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Tennant (NYSE:TNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $328.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.00 million. Tennant had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 6.51%. On average, research analysts forecast that Tennant will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Tennant announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 13th that permits the company to buyback 2,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Tennant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Tennant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tennant

In other news, insider Richard H. Zay sold 7,053 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.58, for a total value of $617,701.74. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 25,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,256,936.60. This represents a 21.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tennant

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TNC. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Tennant by 1.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 28,804 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,766,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tennant by 4.2% during the third quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC now owns 110,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,645,000 after acquiring an additional 4,472 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Tennant by 14.6% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 3,093 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Tennant by 2.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 31,978 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,898,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Tennant during the third quarter worth $244,000. 93.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Tennant

Tennant Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets floor cleaning equipment in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers a suite of products, including floor maintenance and cleaning equipment, detergent-free and other sustainable cleaning technologies, aftermarket parts and consumables, equipment maintenance and repair services, and asset management solutions.