Graham Capital Management L.P. Makes New $1.53 Million Investment in The Timken Company (NYSE:TKR)

Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of The Timken Company (NYSE:TKR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 21,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,534,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Timken by 418.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 882,156 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $62,959,000 after purchasing an additional 711,979 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Timken in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,748,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Timken by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,158,690 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $225,436,000 after purchasing an additional 320,354 shares during the period. Becker Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Timken in the fourth quarter valued at about $15,550,000. Finally, Royce & Associates LP raised its position in shares of Timken by 108.9% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 397,895 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $28,398,000 after purchasing an additional 207,439 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.08% of the company's stock.

Timken Price Performance

TKR stock traded up $1.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $73.85. The stock had a trading volume of 616,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 564,305. The company has a current ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The Timken Company has a 52 week low of $56.20 and a 52 week high of $93.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.73.

Timken (NYSE:TKR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.03). Timken had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. Timken's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Timken Company will post 5.62 EPS for the current year.

Timken Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This is an increase from Timken's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Timken's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TKR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Timken from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America raised shares of Timken from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Timken from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Timken from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Timken from $94.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $80.20.

About Timken

The Timken Company designs, manufactures, and sells engineered bearings and industrial motion products, and related services in the United States and internationally. The company's Engineered Bearings segment provides various bearing products, including tapered, spherical, and cylindrical roller bearings; plain bearings, metal-polymer bearings, and rod end bearings; radial, angular, and precision ball bearings; thrust and specialty ball bearings; journal bearings; and housed or mounted bearings.