Encore Wire (NASDAQ:WIRE) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume

Encore Wire Co. (NASDAQ:WIRE - Get Free Report) shares saw strong trading volume on Tuesday . 178,114 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 18% from the previous session's volume of 218,442 shares.The stock last traded at $289.66 and had previously closed at $291.23.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WIRE. DA Davidson restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $295.00 price objective on shares of Encore Wire in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Encore Wire from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Sidoti restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of Encore Wire in a report on Tuesday.

Encore Wire Stock Down 0.5 %

The stock has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 1.31. The business's fifty day moving average is $240.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $213.22.

Encore Wire (NASDAQ:WIRE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The electronics maker reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.05. Encore Wire had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 20.92%. The company had revenue of $633.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $601.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.28 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Encore Wire Co. will post 16.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Encore Wire Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 19th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.03%. Encore Wire's dividend payout ratio is currently 0.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its position in shares of Encore Wire by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 414 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its position in shares of Encore Wire by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 5,330 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,138,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Encore Wire by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 4,104 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $877,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its position in shares of Encore Wire by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 10,213 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $2,181,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Encore Wire by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 1,516 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.82% of the company's stock.

About Encore Wire

Encore Wire Corporation engages in manufacture and sale of electrical building wires and cables in the United States. It offers NM-B cables, UF-B cables, THHN/THWN-2, XHHW-2, USE-2, RHH/RHW-2, and other types of wire products, including SEU, SER, photovoltaic, URD, tray cables, metal-clads, and armored cables.