Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Lowers Position in BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:BWXT)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its holdings in BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:BWXT) by 18.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,261 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 947 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in BWX Technologies were worth $420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BWXT. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BWX Technologies by 279.0% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 958,563 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $94,562,000 after acquiring an additional 705,648 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of BWX Technologies by 204.8% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 916,323 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $102,069,000 after acquiring an additional 615,693 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in shares of BWX Technologies by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 782,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,242,000 after acquiring an additional 358,170 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of BWX Technologies by 248.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 453,680 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $50,537,000 after acquiring an additional 323,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BWX Technologies by 6,116.6% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 323,326 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,896,000 after acquiring an additional 318,125 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of BWX Technologies in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Bank of America increased their price objective on BWX Technologies from $155.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of BWX Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered BWX Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, CLSA reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $177.60 price objective (up from $153.00) on shares of BWX Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Ronald Owen Whitford, Jr. sold 2,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.43, for a total transaction of $371,183.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,800,737.07. This trade represents a 17.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Omar Fathi Meguid sold 2,261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total value of $406,618.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $424,602.24. The trade was a 48.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,953 shares of company stock valued at $5,359,758 in the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BWX Technologies Price Performance

BWXT opened at $173.49 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.60. BWX Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.21 and a 1 year high of $189.25. The firm has a market cap of $15.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.22, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.73.

BWX Technologies (NYSE:BWXT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.23. BWX Technologies had a return on equity of 30.61% and a net margin of 10.28%. The business had revenue of $764.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $708.00 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. BWX Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that BWX Technologies, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

BWX Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. BWX Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.25%.

About BWX Technologies

BWX Technologies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells nuclear components in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Government Operations and Commercial Operations. The Government Operations segment designs and manufactures naval nuclear components, reactors, and nuclear fuel; fabrication activities; and supplies proprietary and sole-source valves, manifolds, and fittings to naval and commercial shipping customers.