Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 182,311 Shares of BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:BWXT)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:BWXT) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,315,671 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 182,311 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 2.53% of BWX Technologies worth $257,943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BWXT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in BWX Technologies by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,211,924 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,026,116,000 after acquiring an additional 202,917 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in BWX Technologies by 22.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,754,567 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $190,721,000 after buying an additional 320,217 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in BWX Technologies by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,682,563 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $182,938,000 after buying an additional 26,130 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of BWX Technologies by 46.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,408,736 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $156,919,000 after acquiring an additional 448,467 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of BWX Technologies by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,379,779 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $153,694,000 after acquiring an additional 228,413 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Rex D. Geveden sold 45,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.40, for a total transaction of $4,900,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 218,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,436,613.20. The trade was a 17.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Ronald Owen Whitford, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.92, for a total transaction of $209,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,039,127.68. The trade was a 16.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,625 shares of company stock worth $5,734,145. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BWX Technologies Stock Performance

BWXT stock opened at $100.54 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.19 billion, a PE ratio of 33.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.55. BWX Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $86.70 and a 12-month high of $136.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

BWX Technologies (NYSE:BWXT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The technology company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.12. BWX Technologies had a return on equity of 31.95% and a net margin of 10.32%. The company had revenue of $746.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $653.16 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that BWX Technologies, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BWX Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from BWX Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. BWX Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 32.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BWXT shares. Maxim Group lifted their price target on BWX Technologies from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BWX Technologies from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of BWX Technologies from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of BWX Technologies from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BWX Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.38.

About BWX Technologies

BWX Technologies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells nuclear components in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Government Operations and Commercial Operations. The Government Operations segment designs and manufactures naval nuclear components, reactors, and nuclear fuel; fabrication activities; and supplies proprietary and sole-source valves, manifolds, and fittings to naval and commercial shipping customers.