Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Stake in Curtiss-Wright Corporation $CW

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE:CW) by 61.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 490,489 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 185,887 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.33% of Curtiss-Wright worth $270,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Curtiss-Wright by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 698 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Curtiss-Wright by 1.6% in the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $579,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Curtiss-Wright by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 611 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Curtiss-Wright by 9.5% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 208 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lisanti Capital Growth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Curtiss-Wright by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC now owns 2,845 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,568,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Curtiss-Wright news, CFO K Christopher Farkas sold 918 shares of Curtiss-Wright stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.46, for a total value of $621,908.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 5,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,738,224.28. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Lynn M. Bamford sold 3,225 shares of Curtiss-Wright stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $676.70, for a total transaction of $2,182,357.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,264,027.80. The trade was a 5.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 6,181 shares of company stock valued at $4,204,919 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CW shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $724.00 target price on shares of Curtiss-Wright in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Curtiss-Wright in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $748.00 target price on shares of Curtiss-Wright in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $870.00 target price on shares of Curtiss-Wright in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Curtiss-Wright from $728.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Curtiss-Wright has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $746.67.

Curtiss-Wright Stock Up 1.6%

CW opened at $733.05 on Wednesday. Curtiss-Wright Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $443.00 and a fifty-two week high of $760.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $722.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $660.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.70, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.85.

Curtiss-Wright (NYSE:CW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $3.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.16. Curtiss-Wright had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 20.00%. The company had revenue of $913.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $863.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Curtiss-Wright Corporation will post 15.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Curtiss-Wright Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Curtiss-Wright’s payout ratio is presently 7.03%.

About Curtiss-Wright

Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW) is a diversified, global engineering company that designs, manufactures and services highly engineered products and integrated systems for the aerospace, defense, and industrial markets. Its offerings span a range of electromechanical, motion control and flow control technologies, including flight control and actuation systems, sensors and avionics components, pumps and valves, power conversion and heat exchangers, and platform integration solutions for marine and ground systems.