Powell Industries (NASDAQ:POWL) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $252.57 and last traded at $251.71, with a volume of 46826 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $242.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on POWL. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Powell Industries from $142.33 to $160.33 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen cut Powell Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Powell Industries in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised Powell Industries from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Texas Capital raised Powell Industries to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $142.33.

Powell Industries Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.70, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $191.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $146.98.

Powell Industries (NASDAQ:POWL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The industrial products company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. Powell Industries had a return on equity of 30.64% and a net margin of 16.82%.The firm had revenue of $251.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $255.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Powell Industries, Inc. will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Powell Industries Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Powell Industries’s payout ratio is presently 7.02%.

Insider Transactions at Powell Industries

In related news, CEO Brett Alan Cope sold 4,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.96, for a total transaction of $1,038,782.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 164,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,568,539.96. The trade was a 2.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Ping Ni sold 210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.67, for a total value of $41,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 6,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,193,570. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 248,688 shares of company stock worth $44,535,053 in the last three months. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Powell Industries

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Powell Industries by 1,230,312.7% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 775,160 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $247,106,000 after buying an additional 775,097 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Powell Industries by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,314,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $705,475,000 after acquiring an additional 686,588 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Powell Industries by 65.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 615,067 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $187,479,000 after acquiring an additional 244,051 shares during the last quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Powell Industries during the 3rd quarter valued at $43,515,000. Finally, Rock Creek Group LP lifted its position in shares of Powell Industries by 1,900.0% during the 4th quarter. Rock Creek Group LP now owns 150,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,817,000 after acquiring an additional 142,500 shares during the last quarter. 89.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Powell Industries Company Profile

Powell Industries, Inc is an industrial electrical engineering company specializing in the design, manufacture and integration of customized power control and distribution solutions. The firm’s offerings range from medium?voltage switchgear and power control centers to bus duct, motor control centers and specialty transformers. Powell also provides automation systems, protective relaying, metering, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) platforms, and turnkey engineering services to help clients manage critical power infrastructure.

Serving the oil and gas, petrochemical, refining, utility, mining and industrial sectors, Powell’s products are engineered to meet demanding performance, safety and reliability requirements.