Owens Corning Inc $OC Shares Sold by Aberdeen Group plc

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc has significantly reduced its stake in Owens Corning by 94%, selling over 316,000 shares in the first quarter, leaving them with approximately 20,381 shares valued at $2.91 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc and Price T Rowe Associates Inc, have increased their stakes in Owens Corning, with Vanguard adding 1,053,855 shares and now holding nearly $1.4 billion worth of stock.
• Owens Corning's latest earnings report surpassed expectations, showing $4.21 earnings per share against a consensus estimate of $3.80, and the company has also authorized a buyback of up to 12 million shares.

Aberdeen Group plc decreased its holdings in shares of Owens Corning Inc (NYSE:OC - Free Report) by 94.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,381 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 316,969 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc's holdings in Owens Corning were worth $2,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of OC. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG purchased a new stake in shares of Owens Corning during the fourth quarter worth about $28,651,000. Mariner LLC grew its stake in shares of Owens Corning by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 6,885 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Owens Corning by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,960 shares of the construction company's stock worth $2,037,000 after acquiring an additional 1,244 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Owens Corning by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,821 shares of the construction company's stock worth $991,000 after acquiring an additional 2,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its stake in shares of Owens Corning by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 6,148 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,725 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on OC. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Owens Corning from $184.00 to $180.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays upped their target price on Owens Corning from $167.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Owens Corning from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Owens Corning from $165.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Owens Corning from $218.00 to $210.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $184.60.

Owens Corning Stock Performance

NYSE:OC traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $153.23. The company had a trading volume of 764,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 933,435. Owens Corning Inc has a 1-year low of $123.40 and a 1-year high of $214.53. The firm has a market cap of $12.81 billion, a PE ratio of 39.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 1.32. The business's 50 day moving average price is $144.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Owens Corning (NYSE:OC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The construction company reported $4.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.80 by $0.41. Owens Corning had a return on equity of 24.49% and a net margin of 2.98%.The company had revenue of $2.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.64 earnings per share. Owens Corning's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Owens Corning Inc will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Owens Corning declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase 12,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Owens Corning Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st were issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Owens Corning's payout ratio is presently 71.69%.

Owens Corning Company Profile

Owens Corning manufactures and sells building and construction materials in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Roofing, Insulation, and Composites. The Roofing segment manufactures and sells laminate and strip asphalt roofing shingles, oxidized asphalt materials, and roofing components used in residential and commercial construction, and specialty applications.