Powell Industries (NASDAQ:POWL) Shares Down 8.8% After Insider Selling

Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL)’s share price traded down 8.8% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $285.00 and last traded at $282.0810. 132,492 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 735,933 shares. The stock had previously closed at $309.20.

Specifically, major shareholder Thomas W. Powell sold 33,958 shares of Powell Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.49, for a total value of $10,000,291.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 564,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $166,309,104.64. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Powell Industries Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $283.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $202.08. The stock has a market cap of $10.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.75, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.11.

Powell Industries (NASDAQ:POWL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.09). Powell Industries had a return on equity of 28.61% and a net margin of 16.51%.The company had revenue of $296.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $298.12 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. Powell Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.05%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Powell Industries

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Powell Industries by 1,230,312.7% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 775,160 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $247,106,000 after buying an additional 775,097 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Powell Industries by 65.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 615,067 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $187,479,000 after acquiring an additional 244,051 shares during the last quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Powell Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,515,000. Rock Creek Group LP boosted its holdings in shares of Powell Industries by 1,900.0% during the 4th quarter. Rock Creek Group LP now owns 150,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,817,000 after acquiring an additional 142,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voss Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Powell Industries by 59.6% during the 3rd quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 295,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,919,000 after acquiring an additional 110,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.77% of the company’s stock.

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.