Ariel Investments LLC Sells 315,641 Shares of BorgWarner Inc. $BWA

Key Points

• Ariel Investments LLC has decreased its stake in BorgWarner Inc. by 31.5%, selling 315,641 shares and now holding approximately 0.31% of the company worth $19.65 million.
• BorgWarner recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.21 EPS, exceeding analyst expectations, and announced a new $1.00 billion stock repurchase plan indicating confidence in the stock's value.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend from $0.11 to $0.17 per share, with a yield of 1.6%, reflecting a payout ratio of 46.81%.

Ariel Investments LLC trimmed its position in shares of BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE:BWA - Free Report) by 31.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 686,002 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 315,641 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC owned approximately 0.31% of BorgWarner worth $19,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in BorgWarner by 2.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,568,627 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $331,429,000 after acquiring an additional 284,587 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of BorgWarner by 36.7% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,889,080 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $168,722,000 after buying an additional 1,580,935 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of BorgWarner by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,078,780 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $129,664,000 after buying an additional 267,250 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of BorgWarner by 91.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,878,932 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $123,311,000 after buying an additional 1,857,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of BorgWarner by 1.7% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,716,576 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $106,480,000 after buying an additional 60,382 shares during the last quarter. 95.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BorgWarner news, Director Alexis P. Michas sold 8,772 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.31, for a total transaction of $371,143.32. Following the sale, the director directly owned 78,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,338,385.93. This represents a 10.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Stefan Demmerle sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.50, for a total transaction of $202,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 229,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,276,120. This represents a 2.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,272 shares of company stock valued at $1,263,318. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BorgWarner Price Performance

NYSE:BWA traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $44.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,033,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,249,205. BorgWarner Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.40 and a fifty-two week high of $44.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market capitalization of $9.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.46 and a 200-day moving average of $32.98.

BorgWarner (NYSE:BWA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The auto parts company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.15. BorgWarner had a net margin of 1.50% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. BorgWarner has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.450-4.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BorgWarner Inc. will post 4.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BorgWarner announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, July 31st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the auto parts company to repurchase up to 13.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

BorgWarner Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a positive change from BorgWarner's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. BorgWarner's payout ratio is currently 72.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BWA shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of BorgWarner from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BorgWarner from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BorgWarner from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of BorgWarner in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of BorgWarner from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BorgWarner currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $40.57.

BorgWarner Company Profile

BorgWarner Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides solutions for combustion, hybrid, and electric vehicles worldwide. It offers turbochargers, eBoosters, eTurbos, timing systems, emissions systems, thermal systems, gasoline ignition technology, smart remote actuators, powertrain sensors, cabin heaters, battery modules and systems, battery heaters, and battery charging.