Short Interest in Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) Drops By 12.3%

Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,990,000 shares, a drop of 12.3% from the February 28th total of 3,410,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,420,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Xylem Price Performance

NYSE XYL traded down $6.43 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $112.62. The stock had a trading volume of 938,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,321,312. Xylem has a twelve month low of $112.00 and a twelve month high of $146.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $125.59 and its 200 day moving average is $125.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.08.

Xylem (NYSE:XYL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.06. Xylem had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 9.96%. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Xylem will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xylem Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Xylem’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Xylem’s dividend payout ratio is 43.72%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xylem

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Xylem by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,644,417 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,323,325,000 after buying an additional 303,854 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Xylem by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,329,494 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,394,792,000 after purchasing an additional 189,820 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Xylem by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,804,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $671,623,000 after purchasing an additional 135,492 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in Xylem by 231.5% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,561,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $644,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Xylem by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,369,804 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $506,985,000 after purchasing an additional 320,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XYL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup downgraded shares of Xylem from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Xylem from $166.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Xylem from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Xylem in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.89.

About Xylem

Xylem Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and servicing of engineered products and solutions worldwide. It operates through four segments: Water Infrastructure, Applied Water, Measurement & Control Solutions, and Integrated Solutions and Services. The Water Infrastructure segment offers products, including water, storm water, and wastewater pumps; controls and systems; filtration, disinfection, and biological treatment equipment; and mobile dewatering equipment and rental services under the ADI, Flygt, Godwin, Sanitaire, Magneto, Neptune Benson, Ionpure, Leopold, Wedeco, and Xylem Vue brands.