Willdan Group, Inc. $WLDN Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Willdan Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WLDN) by 88.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,914 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,812 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Willdan Group were worth $2,750,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Willdan Group by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,201,517 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $124,549,000 after acquiring an additional 126,247 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Willdan Group by 45.9% in the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 381,581 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,214,000 after purchasing an additional 120,110 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Willdan Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 343,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,561,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Willdan Group by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 305,845 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $31,704,000 after purchasing an additional 6,523 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in shares of Willdan Group by 207.1% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 302,380 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,237,000 after purchasing an additional 203,912 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WLDN. Wedbush assumed coverage on Willdan Group in a report on Thursday, April 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Willdan Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Willdan Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Willdan Group in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Willdan Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $112.67.

Willdan Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WLDN opened at $67.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. Willdan Group, Inc. has a one year low of $64.67 and a one year high of $137.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s fifty day moving average is $83.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.19.

Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The construction company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.10. Willdan Group had a net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The business had revenue of $92.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.17 million. Willdan Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.900-5.050 EPS. Analysts forecast that Willdan Group, Inc. will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Willdan Group news, CEO Michael A. Bieber sold 56,676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.58, for a total transaction of $5,190,388.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 249,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,851,499.50. This represents a 18.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Willdan Group Profile

Willdan Group, Inc provides energy efficiency, infrastructure engineering, and technical consulting services to a diverse range of public and private sector clients. The company works with utilities, municipalities, state and federal agencies, and commercial enterprises to design, implement, and manage programs that promote sustainable energy use, grid modernization, and resilient infrastructure. Willdan’s offerings span program design and implementation, energy audits, measurement and verification, and project management for both new construction and retrofit initiatives.

Core services include energy advisory and engineering solutions, including feasibility studies, facility commissioning and retro-commissioning, $0 down financing for energy projects, and demand response program development.