Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Willdan Group in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Willdan Group in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Willdan Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $103.00 price target (up previously from $62.00) on shares of Willdan Group in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Willdan Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $111.50.

Willdan Group Stock Up 3.8%

Willdan Group stock traded up $3.55 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $95.87. The company had a trading volume of 288,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 251,614. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.11 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Willdan Group has a 1 year low of $30.43 and a 1 year high of $121.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $95.93 and a 200 day moving average of $81.06.

Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The construction company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.40. Willdan Group had a net margin of 5.60% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The firm had revenue of $94.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.00 million. Willdan Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Willdan Group will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Willdan Group

In other news, Director Dennis V. Mcginn sold 7,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.32, for a total transaction of $775,923.36. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,204,605.60. This represents a 39.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Micah Chen sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.00, for a total transaction of $1,060,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 40,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,284,838. This trade represents a 19.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 402,562 shares of company stock worth $43,325,827 over the last three months. 8.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WLDN. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Willdan Group by 1,915.4% in the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 262 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Willdan Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new position in shares of Willdan Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $48,000. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in Willdan Group during the second quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Willdan Group in the first quarter worth $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Willdan Group Company Profile

Willdan Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides professional, technical, and consulting services primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Energy, and Engineering and Consulting. The Energy segment offers comprehensive audit and surveys, program design and implementation, master planning, demand reduction, grid optimization, benchmarking analyses, design engineering, construction management, performance contracting, installation, alternative financing, measurement and verification services, and software and data analytics, as well as energy consulting and engineering, turnkey facility and infrastructure projects, and customer support services.