Cullen Investment Group LTD. Makes New Investment in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. bought a new position in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Xylem in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Xylem during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Xylem during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Xylem during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Xylem during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.96% of the company’s stock.

Xylem Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of XYL opened at $127.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.10. Xylem Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.59 and a 1 year high of $130.86. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $111.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

Xylem (NYSE:XYL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.03. Xylem had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 8.27%. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. Xylem’s quarterly revenue was up 40.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Xylem Inc. will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xylem Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Xylem’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Xylem’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.94%.

Insider Activity at Xylem

In related news, CAO Geri-Michelle Mcshane sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.89, for a total transaction of $122,890.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $360,682.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Xylem news, CAO Geri-Michelle Mcshane sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.89, for a total value of $122,890.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,935 shares in the company, valued at $360,682.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Franz Cerwinka sold 2,408 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.79, for a total value of $293,270.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,431,032.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XYL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Xylem from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Xylem from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on Xylem from $126.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Raymond James upgraded Xylem from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Xylem from $136.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $135.44.

About Xylem

Xylem Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and servicing of engineered products and solutions worldwide. It operates through four segments: Water Infrastructure, Applied Water, Measurement & Control Solutions, and Integrated Solutions and Services. The Water Infrastructure segment offers products, including water, storm water, and wastewater pumps; controls and systems; filtration, disinfection, and biological treatment equipment; and mobile dewatering equipment and rental services under the ADI, Flygt, Godwin, Sanitaire, Magneto, Neptune Benson, Ionpure, Leopold, Wedeco, and Xylem Vue brands.