Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Timken (NYSE:TKR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, May 28th, MarketBeat.com reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $60.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $52.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. ValuEngine downgraded Timken from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 2nd. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Timken from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $56.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Timken from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Tuesday, May 22nd. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded Timken from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $52.60.
TKR traded up $0.10 on Monday, hitting $48.50. 12,660 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 598,773. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Timken has a one year low of $41.85 and a one year high of $55.65. The company has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of 18.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.51.
Timken (NYSE:TKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.17. Timken had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 7.71%. The business had revenue of $883.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $836.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. equities research analysts predict that Timken will post 3.97 earnings per share for the current year.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 4th. Investors of record on Friday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from Timken’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 17th. Timken’s dividend payout ratio is 42.59%.
In related news, Director Ward J. Timken, Jr. sold 4,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.10, for a total transaction of $196,498.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 269,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,252,188.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frank C. Sullivan bought 2,000 shares of Timken stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $44.85 per share, for a total transaction of $89,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 46,932 shares in the company, valued at $2,104,900.20. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.15% of the company’s stock.
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American International Group Inc. increased its position in Timken by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 141,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,947,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Timken by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 6,349 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277 shares during the period. Advisor Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Timken by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisor Group Inc. now owns 5,903 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 1,484 shares during the last quarter. OppenheimerFunds Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Timken by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. OppenheimerFunds Inc. now owns 17,354 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $853,000 after buying an additional 1,522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Timken by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 119,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,864,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. 77.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.