Owens Corning Inc $OC Shares Sold by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its stake in Owens Corning by 5.1%, holding approximately 156,152 shares valued at $22.3 million after selling 8,473 shares.
• Despite this decrease, other institutional investors such as Vanguard Group and Price T Rowe Associates increased their stakes significantly, highlighting strong institutional interest with 88.40% of the stock owned by such investors.
• Owens Corning reported a higher-than-expected earnings of $4.21 per share, exceeding analyst estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend yielding 1.8% while maintaining a payout ratio of 71.69%.

Alliancebernstein L.P. trimmed its stake in shares of Owens Corning Inc (NYSE:OC - Free Report) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 156,152 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 8,473 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.18% of Owens Corning worth $22,302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Owens Corning by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,815,685 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,401,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,855 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Owens Corning by 67.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,380,123 shares of the construction company's stock worth $339,930,000 after purchasing an additional 957,295 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Owens Corning by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,476,067 shares of the construction company's stock worth $210,812,000 after purchasing an additional 27,185 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Owens Corning by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 865,665 shares of the construction company's stock worth $123,634,000 after purchasing an additional 5,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Owens Corning by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 739,669 shares of the construction company's stock worth $125,980,000 after purchasing an additional 12,394 shares in the last quarter. 88.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Owens Corning Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of OC opened at $153.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $12.81 billion, a PE ratio of 39.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.56 and a beta of 1.32. The company's fifty day moving average is $147.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.75. Owens Corning Inc has a fifty-two week low of $123.40 and a fifty-two week high of $214.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

Owens Corning (NYSE:OC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The construction company reported $4.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.80 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $2.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Owens Corning had a net margin of 2.98% and a return on equity of 24.49%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.64 EPS. Analysts forecast that Owens Corning Inc will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Owens Corning Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Owens Corning's payout ratio is presently 71.69%.

Owens Corning declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 14th that allows the company to buyback 12,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Owens Corning from $218.00 to $210.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Owens Corning from $184.00 to $180.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Owens Corning from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Owens Corning from $167.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Owens Corning from $165.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $184.60.

About Owens Corning

Owens Corning manufactures and sells building and construction materials in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Roofing, Insulation, and Composites. The Roofing segment manufactures and sells laminate and strip asphalt roofing shingles, oxidized asphalt materials, and roofing components used in residential and commercial construction, and specialty applications.

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