Royal Bank of Canada Increases Xylem (NYSE:XYL) Price Target to $162.00

Xylem (NYSE:XYL) had its price objective upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $157.00 to $162.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on XYL. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Xylem from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup increased their target price on Xylem from $126.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Raymond James raised Xylem from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Xylem from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Xylem from $136.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xylem currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $140.70.

Xylem Stock Performance

Xylem stock traded up $1.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $137.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,418,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,226,487. The company has a 50-day moving average of $128.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Xylem has a fifty-two week low of $87.59 and a fifty-two week high of $138.46. The company has a market cap of $33.26 billion, a PE ratio of 48.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.08.

Xylem (NYSE:XYL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.06. Xylem had a return on equity of 8.95% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. Xylem’s revenue was up 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Xylem will post 4.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xylem Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is an increase from Xylem’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Xylem’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Franz Cerwinka sold 2,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.79, for a total value of $293,270.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,431,032.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Franz Cerwinka sold 2,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.79, for a total value of $293,270.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,431,032.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Geri-Michelle Mcshane sold 1,000 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 2,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $360,682.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Xylem

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in XYL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Xylem by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,048,996 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,207,683,000 after acquiring an additional 187,847 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Xylem by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,528,905 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $412,267,000 after purchasing an additional 466,911 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Xylem by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,182,821 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $380,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,086,102 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Xylem by 10.6% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,408,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $310,249,000 after buying an additional 327,383 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in Xylem by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 3,066,639 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $350,701,000 after buying an additional 69,619 shares during the last quarter. 87.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Xylem Company Profile

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.