Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Textron (NYSE:TXT) Stock

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised Textron’s price target from $86 to $95 while maintaining an “equal weight” rating, implying approximately 8% upside from the stock’s recent price.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: Textron has an overall “Hold” consensus rating and a $100 average price target, based on one Strong Buy, three Buys, and seven Holds.
• Textron’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations on earnings, reporting $1.76 in EPS versus a $1.43 estimate, while revenue rose 4.1% year over year to $3.75 billion.

Textron (NYSE:TXT - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $86.00 to $95.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the aerospace company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target suggests a potential upside of 8.03% from the stock's current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Textron from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Textron from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen cut Textron from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Textron from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Textron from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Textron presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $100.00.

Textron Price Performance

TXT stock traded up $2.23 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $87.94. 485,555 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,645,083. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $78.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.32. Textron has a 52-week low of $71.87 and a 52-week high of $101.57. The company has a market capitalization of $14.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Textron (NYSE:TXT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The aerospace company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.77 billion. Textron had a net margin of 6.30% and a return on equity of 14.34%. Textron's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Textron will post 6.60 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TXT. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Textron in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,434,125,000. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new stake in shares of Textron during the second quarter valued at approximately $111,723,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Textron during the second quarter valued at approximately $105,946,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Textron in the second quarter worth approximately $81,224,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Textron in the second quarter worth approximately $78,431,000. 86.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Textron Company Profile

Textron Inc NYSE: TXT is a diversified industrial company that develops and manufactures aircraft, helicopters, specialized vehicles, defense systems and other industrial products. Founded in 1923 by Royal Little, the company has grown through the development and acquisition of businesses serving commercial, government and consumer markets.

Textron Aviation produces business jets, turboprop aircraft and general aviation aircraft under the Cessna and Beechcraft brands. Bell designs and manufactures military and commercial helicopters, tiltrotor aircraft and related support services.

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