LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL)

Key Points

• LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in Xylem Inc. by 19% in Q1, acquiring an additional 2,742 shares, bringing its total shares to 17,172, valued at $2,051,000.
• Xylem reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.26, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue of $2.30 billion, which is a 6.1% increase year-over-year.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend of $1.60 and a yield of 1.1%.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL - Free Report) by 19.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,172 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 2,742 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Xylem were worth $2,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of XYL. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Xylem in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,444,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Xylem by 56.4% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 14,409 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,672,000 after purchasing an additional 5,195 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in Xylem by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 11,074 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,285,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Xylem by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,790 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC increased its stake in Xylem by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 318,773 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $36,986,000 after purchasing an additional 6,697 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.96% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on XYL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Xylem from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Xylem from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Xylem from $164.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $152.00 target price (up from $137.00) on shares of Xylem in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Xylem from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $151.57.

Xylem Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE XYL traded down $1.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $142.21. 57,438 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,478,201. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.57. Xylem Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.47 and a 1-year high of $145.33. The firm has a market cap of $34.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.11.

Xylem (NYSE:XYL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.11. Xylem had a return on equity of 10.33% and a net margin of 10.74%. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. Xylem's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Xylem Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xylem Profile

Xylem Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and servicing of engineered products and solutions worldwide. It operates through four segments: Water Infrastructure, Applied Water, Measurement & Control Solutions, and Integrated Solutions and Services. The Water Infrastructure segment offers products, including water, storm water, and wastewater pumps; controls and systems; filtration, disinfection, and biological treatment equipment; and mobile dewatering equipment and rental services under the ADI, Flygt, Godwin, Sanitaire, Magneto, Neptune Benson, Ionpure, Leopold, Wedeco, and Xylem Vue brands.