Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Buys 51,003 Shares of Willdan Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WLDN)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Willdan Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WLDN - Free Report) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 432,135 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 51,003 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned about 3.06% of Willdan Group worth $16,460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Willdan Group by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 751,985 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $28,643,000 after buying an additional 50,262 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Willdan Group by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 419,319 shares of the construction company's stock worth $15,972,000 after purchasing an additional 49,217 shares during the last quarter. Summit Creek Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Willdan Group by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Summit Creek Advisors LLC now owns 365,153 shares of the construction company's stock worth $13,909,000 after purchasing an additional 6,119 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Willdan Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 296,398 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $11,293,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Willdan Group by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 195,668 shares of the construction company's stock worth $7,453,000 after buying an additional 48,094 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WLDN. Wedbush raised shares of Willdan Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Willdan Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Willdan Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WLDN traded down $0.38 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.20. 97,093 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 132,148. Willdan Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.19 and a 52-week high of $50.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.40 and a 200 day moving average of $39.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The company has a market cap of $568.28 million, a PE ratio of 24.05 and a beta of 1.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mohammad Shahidehpour sold 2,273 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total transaction of $89,101.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,767 shares in the company, valued at $500,466.40. The trade was a 15.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 9.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Willdan Group 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.