Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $304,000 in Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,202 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $304,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Textron by 6,785.9% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,236,441 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $94,575,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218,485 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Textron in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,451,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Textron by 97.9% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,031,144 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $78,872,000 after buying an additional 510,085 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Textron during the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,370,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Textron by 88.9% during the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 550,976 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $42,144,000 after buying an additional 259,350 shares during the period. 86.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TXT has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Textron from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $73.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Textron from $71.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Textron in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup decreased their target price on Textron from $111.00 to $107.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Textron from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $92.67.

Textron Stock Performance

Shares of TXT opened at $77.39 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.16. Textron Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.70 and a 52 week high of $91.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Textron (NYSE:TXT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. Textron had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 5.80%. Textron's revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Textron Inc. will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Textron Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Textron's dividend payout ratio is currently 1.81%.

Insider Activity at Textron

In other Textron news, EVP Julie G. Duffy sold 28,543 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.37, for a total value of $2,265,457.91. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,986,216.88. This trade represents a 43.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Textron

Textron Inc operates in the aircraft, defense, industrial, and finance businesses worldwide. It operates through six segments: Textron Aviation, Bell, Textron Systems, Industrial, Textron eAviation, and Finance. The Textron Aviation segment manufactures, sells, and services business jets, turboprop and piston engine aircraft, and military trainer and defense aircraft; and offers maintenance, inspection, and repair services, as well as sells commercial parts.

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