Powell Industries (NASDAQ:POWL) Shares Up 3.7% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL) rose 3.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $192.67 and last traded at $193.6910. Approximately 96,453 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 787,460 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.72.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Glj Research initiated coverage on Powell Industries in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “hold” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Powell Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Powell Industries in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of Powell Industries from $142.33 to $160.33 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Texas Capital upgraded shares of Powell Industries to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Powell Industries currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $142.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Powell Industries news, CEO Brett Alan Cope sold 4,440 shares of Powell Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.27, for a total transaction of $747,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 507,873 shares in the company, valued at $85,458,096.80. The trade was a 0.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ping Ni sold 210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.67, for a total transaction of $41,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,193,570. This represents a 3.34% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 244,248 shares of company stock valued at $43,496,270 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Powell Industries

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in Powell Industries by 42.2% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,314,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $705,475,000 after purchasing an additional 686,588 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Powell Industries by 1,230,312.7% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 775,160 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $247,106,000 after acquiring an additional 775,097 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Powell Industries by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 706,642 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $225,263,000 after acquiring an additional 6,419 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Powell Industries by 65.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 615,067 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $187,479,000 after acquiring an additional 244,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Powell Industries by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 352,103 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $74,100,000 after acquiring an additional 3,159 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.77% of the company’s stock.

Powell Industries Trading Up 1.2%

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of 14.15, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.81.

Powell Industries (NASDAQ:POWL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The industrial products company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. Powell Industries had a return on equity of 30.64% and a net margin of 16.82%.The company had revenue of $251.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $255.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. Powell Industries’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Powell Industries, Inc. will post 13.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Powell Industries Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Powell Industries’s dividend payout ratio is 7.02%.

Powell Industries Company Profile

Powell Industries, Inc is an industrial electrical engineering company specializing in the design, manufacture and integration of customized power control and distribution solutions. The firm’s offerings range from medium?voltage switchgear and power control centers to bus duct, motor control centers and specialty transformers. Powell also provides automation systems, protective relaying, metering, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) platforms, and turnkey engineering services to help clients manage critical power infrastructure.

Serving the oil and gas, petrochemical, refining, utility, mining and industrial sectors, Powell’s products are engineered to meet demanding performance, safety and reliability requirements.