Strs Ohio Trims Position in Wabtec $WAB

Strs Ohio cut its holdings in shares of Wabtec (NYSE:WAB) by 31.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 130,662 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 60,393 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Wabtec were worth $27,890,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WAB. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Wabtec by 55.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,069,340 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $659,939,000 after buying an additional 1,095,083 shares during the period. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Wabtec by 68.6% during the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,205,098 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $442,056,000 after buying an additional 896,900 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Wabtec by 194.2% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,033,304 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $207,146,000 after buying an additional 682,048 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Wabtec by 76.3% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,229,270 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $245,534,000 after buying an additional 532,121 shares during the period. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Wabtec during the third quarter valued at approximately $80,160,000. 91.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Wabtec from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised Wabtec from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $262.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wabtec in a research report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Wabtec from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Wabtec from $283.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.82.

Wabtec Trading Down 1.7%

Wabtec stock opened at $265.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $255.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.96. Wabtec has a 12 month low of $184.26 and a 12 month high of $275.84. The company has a market capitalization of $45.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.97.

Wabtec (NYSE:WAB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The transportation company reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.62 by $0.09. Wabtec had a return on equity of 14.52% and a net margin of 10.52%.The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Wabtec has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.250-10.650 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Wabtec will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wabtec Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This is an increase from Wabtec’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Wabtec’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.54%.

Wabtec declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to buyback $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the transportation company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John A. Olin sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.30, for a total transaction of $2,896,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 60,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,926,227.10. This represents a 15.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Rogerio Mendonca sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.21, for a total value of $924,735.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,668,785.21. The trade was a 25.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 92,364 shares of company stock valued at $24,522,522. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wabtec Company Profile

Wabtec Corporation (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation) is a global provider of equipment, systems and services for the rail industry. The company supplies products and solutions to freight railroads, transit agencies and other industrial operators, focusing on technologies that improve the performance, safety and efficiency of locomotives and rail networks. Wabtec’s business spans new equipment manufacturing, aftermarket parts and services, and digital and control systems for rail operations.

Product and service offerings include locomotive systems and components, braking and air systems, propulsion and traction equipment, signaling and control technologies, and a range of aftermarket services such as maintenance, remanufacturing, parts distribution and fleet modernization.