Merit Financial Group LLC Has $892,000 Holdings in Alamo Group Inc. (NYSE:ALG)

Merit Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alamo Group Inc. (NYSE:ALG - Free Report) by 20.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,003 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 1,265 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Alamo Group were worth $892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ALG. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Alamo Group by 204.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 22,417 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,039,000 after purchasing an additional 15,061 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Alamo Group by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 1,972 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Alamo Group by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 520 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in Alamo Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Alamo Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $226,000. 92.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alamo Group

In other Alamo Group news, EVP Richard Hodges Raborn sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.84, for a total value of $100,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,948 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,613,424.32. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffery Allen Leonard sold 3,500 shares of Alamo Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.52, for a total transaction of $705,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 40,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,244,787.76. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.18% of the company's stock.

Alamo Group Trading Up 1.1%

ALG opened at $207.59 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.26. Alamo Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $157.07 and a fifty-two week high of $208.68. The company has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 4.15 and a quick ratio of 2.39.

Alamo Group (NYSE:ALG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The industrial products company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.33 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $390.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.08 million. Alamo Group had a net margin of 7.19% and a return on equity of 12.41%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alamo Group Inc. will post 9.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Alamo Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 16th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Alamo Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 12.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $217.00 target price on shares of Alamo Group in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Baird R W downgraded Alamo Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Alamo Group from $217.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Alamo Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut Alamo Group from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $224.00 to $177.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th.

About Alamo Group

Alamo Group Inc designs, manufactures, distributes, and services vegetation management and infrastructure maintenance equipment for governmental, industrial, and agricultural uses worldwide. It operates through two segments, Vegetation Management and Industrial Equipment. Its Vegetation Management Division segment offers hydraulically-powered and tractor - and off-road chassis mounted mowers, other cutters and replacement parts for heavy-duty and intensive uses and heavy duty, tractor- and truck-mounted mowing and vegetation maintenance equipment, and replacement parts.

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