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

Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,310,000 shares, an increase of 17.1% from the August 31st total of 3,680,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 941,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Textron

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TXT. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Textron in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Textron during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Textron in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Textron in the second quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Textron by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 507 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.03% of the company’s stock.

Textron Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TXT traded down $0.46 during trading on Monday, reaching $87.29. The company had a trading volume of 280,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,075,262. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.23. Textron has a twelve month low of $74.13 and a twelve month high of $97.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $88.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.13.

Textron (NYSE:TXT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The aerospace company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.56 billion. Textron had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 16.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Textron will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Textron Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Textron’s dividend payout ratio is presently 1.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on TXT shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Textron from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen cut Textron from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $103.00 to $95.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Textron from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Textron from $111.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Textron from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.50.

Textron Company 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.