Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 14,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,670,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of XYL. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xylem in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Xylem in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xylem in the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Xylem during the second quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Xylem during the third quarter worth about $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XYL has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Xylem from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Xylem from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Xylem from $136.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Xylem in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Xylem from $126.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Franz Cerwinka sold 2,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.79, for a total value of $293,270.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,750 shares in the company, valued at $1,431,032.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Geri-Michelle Mcshane sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.89, for a total transaction of $122,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,935 shares in the company, valued at $360,682.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Franz Cerwinka sold 2,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.79, for a total transaction of $293,270.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,431,032.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Xylem Trading Up 0.5 %

Xylem stock opened at $127.84 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.99 billion, a PE ratio of 47.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.10. Xylem Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.59 and a 12-month high of $130.86.

Xylem (NYSE:XYL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Xylem had a net margin of 8.27% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The business’s revenue was up 40.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Xylem Inc. will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xylem Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a boost from Xylem’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Xylem’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.94%.

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.