Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Trims Holdings in Willdan Group, Inc. $WLDN

Key Points

• Lord Abbett & CO. LLC reduced its stake in Willdan Group, Inc. by 43.1%, selling 186,418 shares and holding a total of 245,717 shares, representing approximately 1.69% ownership valued at $10 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their positions in Willdan Group, with Wells Fargo & Company expanding its stake by 2,934% during the fourth quarter.
• Research firms have raised their price targets for Willdan Group, with Roth Capital now setting a target of $103.00 and Wedbush increasing theirs to $120.00, both maintaining favorable ratings.

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC decreased its position in Willdan Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WLDN - Free Report) by 43.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 245,717 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 186,418 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned about 1.69% of Willdan Group worth $10,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WLDN. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Willdan Group by 470.2% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,682 shares of the construction company's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Willdan Group by 1,809.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the construction company's stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 2,045 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Willdan Group by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,597 shares of the construction company's stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Willdan Group by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 5,410 shares of the construction company's stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the period. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in Willdan Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WLDN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush increased their price objective on Willdan Group from $85.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $103.00 price target (up previously from $62.00) on shares of Willdan Group in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $111.50.

Willdan Group Trading Up 0.8%

WLDN stock traded up $0.83 during trading on Thursday, hitting $104.01. The company had a trading volume of 159,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 218,037. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.71 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.61. Willdan Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.43 and a 52-week high of $121.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Creighton K. Early sold 7,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.54, for a total value of $904,816.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 72,071 shares in the company, valued at $8,399,154.34. This represents a 9.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Wanda Kay Reder sold 850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.46, for a total transaction of $101,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,275,354.96. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 173,044 shares of company stock valued at $17,393,965 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 8.60% of the company's stock.

Willdan Group Company Profile

Willdan Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides professional, technical, and consulting services primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Energy, and Engineering and Consulting. The Energy segment offers comprehensive audit and surveys, program design and implementation, master planning, demand reduction, grid optimization, benchmarking analyses, design engineering, construction management, performance contracting, installation, alternative financing, measurement and verification services, and software and data analytics, as well as energy consulting and engineering, turnkey facility and infrastructure projects, and customer support services.