LSV Asset Management Boosts Stock Position in Edgewell Personal Care Company (NYSE:EPC)

Key Points

• LSV Asset Management increased its stake in Edgewell Personal Care Company by 14.6%, acquiring an additional 169,732 shares, resulting in a total ownership of approximately 2.77% valued at $41.69 million.
• Research firms have upgraded and downgraded ratings for Edgewell, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.14.
• Edgewell Personal Care reported earnings of $0.87 per share for the last quarter, missing expectations by $0.03, and announced a $0.15 quarterly dividend yielding 2.4%.

LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Edgewell Personal Care Company (NYSE:EPC - Free Report) by 14.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,335,884 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 169,732 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management owned approximately 2.77% of Edgewell Personal Care worth $41,693,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Edgewell Personal Care by 71.3% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 12,057 shares of the company's stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 5,019 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Edgewell Personal Care by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,799,860 shares of the company's stock worth $194,875,000 after buying an additional 24,850 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Edgewell Personal Care in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,684,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in shares of Edgewell Personal Care by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 26,067 shares of the company's stock valued at $889,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in shares of Edgewell Personal Care by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 52,057 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 6,768 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EPC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Edgewell Personal Care from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Edgewell Personal Care from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Edgewell Personal Care from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Edgewell Personal Care from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Edgewell Personal Care from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $33.14.

Edgewell Personal Care Price Performance

Edgewell Personal Care stock traded down $4.63 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $20.37. The stock had a trading volume of 3,824,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 768,158. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $958.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 0.81. Edgewell Personal Care Company has a 1-year low of $19.13 and a 1-year high of $40.71. The stock's fifty day moving average is $25.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.56.

Edgewell Personal Care (NYSE:EPC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $627.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $658.51 million. Edgewell Personal Care had a net margin of 3.81% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Edgewell Personal Care Company will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Edgewell Personal Care Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Edgewell Personal Care's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.09%.

Edgewell Personal Care Company Profile

Edgewell Personal Care Company is a manufacturer and marketer of personal care products in the wet shave, sun and skin care, feminine care and infant care categories. As of September 30, 2016, the Company had a portfolio of over 25 brands. It manages its business in four segments: Wet Shave, Sun and Skin Care, Feminine Care and All Other.