KBC Group NV Trims Stock Position in Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. $WMS

Key Points

• KBC Group NV trimmed its stake in Advanced Drainage Systems (WMS) by 0.9% in Q4, selling 8,026 shares and leaving it with 902,066 shares (about 1.16% ownership) valued at roughly $130.65 million.
• Wall Street is mostly bullish—several firms raised targets (Oppenheimer to $200, KeyCorp $198, UBS $215), leaving an average analyst price target of $191 with seven Buys and one Hold (consensus: Moderate Buy).
• Shares opened at $147.86 and were trading down about 5%; the company beat Q4 EPS estimates ($1.27 vs. $1.11), reported $693.35M in revenue, and pays a $0.18 quarterly dividend ($0.72 annual, ~0.5% yield).

KBC Group NV trimmed its position in Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 902,066 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 8,026 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned about 1.16% of Advanced Drainage Systems worth $130,646,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bridges Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Advanced Drainage Systems by 32.9% in the third quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,122 shares of the construction company's stock worth $3,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,960 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new stake in Advanced Drainage Systems during the third quarter worth $24,314,000. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC raised its position in Advanced Drainage Systems by 345.7% in the third quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 42,898 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $5,950,000 after purchasing an additional 33,274 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Advanced Drainage Systems in the third quarter valued at $1,321,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems by 29.7% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 19,982 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,772,000 after purchasing an additional 4,574 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.83% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Advanced Drainage Systems from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems from $180.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $205.00 target price on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group set a $215.00 price target on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Advanced Drainage Systems currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $191.00.

Advanced Drainage Systems Trading Down 5.0%

Shares of NYSE WMS opened at $147.86 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.12, a quick ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.52 billion, a PE ratio of 24.60, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $100.60 and a twelve month high of $179.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $149.35.

Advanced Drainage Systems (NYSE:WMS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The construction company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $693.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $686.37 million. Advanced Drainage Systems had a return on equity of 27.72% and a net margin of 15.75%.Advanced Drainage Systems's revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Advanced Drainage Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Advanced Drainage Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.98%.

Advanced Drainage Systems Company Profile

Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc NYSE: WMS is a leading manufacturer and supplier of water management solutions in North America. Headquartered in Hilliard, Ohio, the company specializes in the design, production and distribution of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) drainage pipe and related products. Its core business addresses stormwater management, on-site septic systems and erosion control for residential, commercial and infrastructure projects.

The company's product portfolio includes corrugated plastic pipe, tubing, fittings, geocells, geogrids and stormwater structures such as inlets, manholes and detention/retention systems.

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