Cullen Capital Management LLC Reduces Position in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL)

Cullen Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,421 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 514 shares during the quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Xylem were worth $397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Xylem by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,644,417 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,323,325,000 after purchasing an additional 303,854 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Xylem by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,329,494 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,394,792,000 after buying an additional 189,820 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Xylem by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,804,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $671,623,000 after buying an additional 135,492 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in Xylem by 231.5% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,561,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $644,039,000 after acquiring an additional 3,883,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its stake in Xylem by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,683,201 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $427,325,000 after acquiring an additional 691,618 shares during the period. 87.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on XYL shares. Citigroup lowered Xylem from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research reissued a “peer perform” rating on shares of Xylem in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Xylem from $166.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Xylem from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Xylem presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.89.

Xylem Trading Down 5.9 %

Shares of XYL stock opened at $104.46 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Xylem Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.24 and a fifty-two week high of $146.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $125.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.29. The stock has a market cap of $25.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.08.

Xylem (NYSE:XYL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.06. Xylem had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 9.96%. The business had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Xylem Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Xylem Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. This is a positive change from Xylem’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Xylem’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.72%.

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.