Natural Investments LLC Takes $1.67 Million Position in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL)

Natural Investments LLC acquired a new position in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 14,428 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,673,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake 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 buying an additional 3,883,845 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in Xylem during the fourth quarter worth approximately $96,658,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xylem by 42.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 698,745 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Xylem by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,683,201 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $427,325,000 after acquiring an additional 691,618 shares during the period. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Xylem in the third quarter valued at approximately $68,593,000. 87.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Xylem from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup lowered shares of Xylem from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Xylem from $166.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued 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 seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.90.

Xylem Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE XYL opened at $128.34 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $124.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.95. Xylem Inc. has a 52-week low of $113.26 and a 52-week high of $146.08. The firm has a market cap of $31.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

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

Xylem Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from Xylem’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Xylem’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.