Earnest Partners LLC Trims Position in BorgWarner Inc. $BWA

Key Points

• Earnest Partners LLC reduced its stake in BorgWarner Inc. by 0.5% during the first quarter, owning approximately 3.9 million shares valued at $112 million.
• Analysts have shown increased confidence in BorgWarner, with multiple firms upgrading their ratings and raising price targets, resulting in an average price target of $39.64.
• BorgWarner announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.11 to $0.17 per share, along with a new stock buyback program of $1 billion to repurchase up to 13.2% of its shares.

Earnest Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE:BWA - Free Report) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,909,480 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 17,935 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 1.78% of BorgWarner worth $112,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trajan Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of BorgWarner by 4.6% during the first quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC now owns 7,978 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BorgWarner by 26.1% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,965 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of BorgWarner by 5.7% during the first quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,852 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC grew its holdings in shares of BorgWarner by 14.6% during the first quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 3,301 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of BorgWarner by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 112,559 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $3,580,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.67% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on BWA. Wall Street Zen raised BorgWarner from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on BorgWarner from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on BorgWarner from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on BorgWarner from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on BorgWarner from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BorgWarner currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $39.64.

Insider Activity at BorgWarner

In other news, VP Stefan Demmerle sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.31, for a total transaction of $589,650.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 234,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,200,112.40. The trade was a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Isabelle Mckenzie sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.01, for a total value of $100,025.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 55,945 shares in the company, valued at $2,238,359.45. This trade represents a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,500 shares of company stock worth $892,175 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.63% of the company's stock.

BorgWarner Stock Performance

Shares of BWA stock opened at $43.58 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 2.02. BorgWarner Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.40 and a fifty-two week high of $43.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.25. The company has a market capitalization of $9.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.36, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.10.

BorgWarner (NYSE:BWA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The auto parts company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.15. BorgWarner had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 1.50%.The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business's 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. Analysts expect that BorgWarner Inc. will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current year.

BorgWarner Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a boost from BorgWarner's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. BorgWarner's payout ratio is 72.34%.

BorgWarner announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 31st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the auto parts company to purchase up to 13.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

BorgWarner 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.

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