Powell Industries, Inc. $POWL Shares Sold by Aurora Investment Counsel

Aurora Investment Counsel cut its holdings in shares of Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL) by 61.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,952 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,626 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Powell Industries were worth $941,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of POWL. Barclays PLC raised its position in Powell Industries by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 16,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,385,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Powell Industries during the fourth quarter worth $162,000. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Powell Industries during the fourth quarter worth $306,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Powell Industries by 362.1% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 134 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Powell Industries by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,008 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $640,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. 89.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP William Marshall Mauney, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.69, for a total value of $809,225.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 10,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,513,007.57. This trade represents a 18.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett Alan Cope sold 4,440 shares of Powell Industries 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 164,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,568,539.96. This represents a 2.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 174,964 shares of company stock worth $31,339,200. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on POWL shares. Weiss Ratings raised Powell Industries from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Texas Capital raised Powell Industries to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Powell Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Powell Industries from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Powell Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.67.

Powell Industries Trading Up 1.5%

Powell Industries stock opened at $294.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.11. Powell Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.70 and a twelve month high of $328.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $266.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.84.

Powell Industries (NASDAQ:POWL) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.09). Powell Industries had a net margin of 16.51% and a return on equity of 28.61%. The company had revenue of $296.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $298.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Powell Industries, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Powell Industries Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. Powell Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.05%.

About Powell Industries

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.