Brandes Investment Partners LP Acquires 302,712 Shares of Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT)

Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) by 19.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,859,703 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 302,712 shares during the quarter. Textron accounts for approximately 1.6% of Brandes Investment Partners LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Textron were worth $142,249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in Textron by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,047 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $624,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Textron by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,655 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $235,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Pflug Koory LLC increased its holdings in Textron by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 13,778 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in Textron by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,611 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $200,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its holdings in Textron by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 2,977 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. 86.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on TXT. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Textron from $118.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Textron from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays cut their target price on Textron from $104.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Vertical Research upgraded 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. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Textron to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Textron presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Mark S. Bamford sold 5,451 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.68, for a total value of $396,178.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,223 shares in the company, valued at $1,324,447.64. The trade was a 23.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Textron Stock Performance

Shares of TXT opened at $73.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.33 billion, a PE ratio of 17.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $75.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.28. Textron Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.14 and a 12-month high of $97.34.

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

Textron Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.11%. Textron’s payout ratio is 1.86%.

Textron 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.