Congress Asset Management Co. Purchases 12,026 Shares of Howmet Aerospace Inc. (NYSE:HWM)

Congress Asset Management Co. increased its position in shares of Howmet Aerospace Inc. (NYSE:HWM) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,282,137 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,026 shares during the period. Howmet Aerospace comprises about 0.9% of Congress Asset Management Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Congress Asset Management Co. owned about 0.32% of Howmet Aerospace worth $140,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of HWM. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Howmet Aerospace during the 3rd quarter worth about $553,000. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Howmet Aerospace by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 52,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,230,000 after buying an additional 6,537 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in Howmet Aerospace by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 3,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Howmet Aerospace by 168.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 15,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,508,000 after buying an additional 9,432 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in Howmet Aerospace by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 57,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,735,000 after buying an additional 4,440 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.46% of the company’s stock.

Howmet Aerospace Stock Up 4.4 %

HWM stock opened at $133.66 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $119.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.19. Howmet Aerospace Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.70 and a fifty-two week high of $133.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 2.24. The company has a market cap of $54.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.50.

Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.03. Howmet Aerospace had a return on equity of 24.50% and a net margin of 14.81%. The business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Howmet Aerospace Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Howmet Aerospace Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is a positive change from Howmet Aerospace’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Howmet Aerospace’s payout ratio is currently 14.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on HWM. UBS Group lifted their target price on Howmet Aerospace from $103.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. KeyCorp downgraded Howmet Aerospace from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on Howmet Aerospace from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Howmet Aerospace from $113.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Howmet Aerospace from $113.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.76.

About Howmet Aerospace

Howmet Aerospace Inc provides advanced engineered solutions for the aerospace and transportation industries in the United States, Japan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Engine Products, Fastening Systems, Engineered Structures, and Forged Wheels.