Wabtec (NYSE:WAB) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from Citigroup

Wabtec (NYSE:WAB) had its target price decreased by Citigroup from $338.00 to $334.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on WAB. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Wabtec from $318.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Wabtec from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 2nd. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Wabtec from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Wabtec from $284.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Wabtec from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $320.18.

Wabtec Stock Down 1.6%

NYSE WAB opened at $272.08 on Thursday. Wabtec has a 1-year low of $194.93 and a 1-year high of $306.64. The company has a market capitalization of $45.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.80, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $286.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $276.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Wabtec (NYSE:WAB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The transportation company reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. Wabtec had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 11.20%. Wabtec’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Wabtec will post 10.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wabtec Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Wabtec’s payout ratio is currently 15.40%.

Insider Transactions at Wabtec

In other news, EVP Gregory Sbrocco sold 952 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $285,600.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 21,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,312,900. This represents a 4.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michael Fetsko sold 3,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $952,965.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 37,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,960,563.60. This trade represents a 8.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,452 shares of company stock worth $1,903,524. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wabtec

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wabtec in the second quarter worth about $3,741,077,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Wabtec by 2.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,905,748 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,131,390,000 after purchasing an additional 164,806 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Wabtec by 43.9% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,580,919 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $426,216,000 after purchasing an additional 482,323 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Wabtec by 2.4% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,424,945 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $384,165,000 after purchasing an additional 33,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Wabtec by 288.0% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 851,733 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $212,857,000 after purchasing an additional 632,218 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.69% of the company’s stock.

About Wabtec

Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation, doing business as Wabtec (NYSE: WAB), is a global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions and services for the freight and passenger rail industries. The company develops technologies intended to improve the safety, efficiency, reliability and sustainability of rail transportation.

Wabtec’s products and services include locomotives, locomotive components and modernization programs, braking systems, train control and signaling equipment, power and propulsion systems, and advanced digital solutions.