Short Interest in BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:BWXT) Declines By 7.5%

BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:BWXT) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 889,300 shares, a drop of 7.5% from the March 15th total of 961,200 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 591,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $95.00 price target (down previously from $110.00) on shares of BWX Technologies in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com lowered BWX Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on BWX Technologies from $82.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Institutional Trading of BWX Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of BWX Technologies by 77.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 270 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its position in shares of BWX Technologies by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 16,286 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in BWX Technologies by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,907 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $498,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in BWX Technologies by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,177 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in BWX Technologies by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 926 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. 94.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BWX Technologies Stock Performance

BWXT traded down $0.31 on Wednesday, reaching $93.32. 230,781 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 600,455. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $96.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.37. BWX Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $60.17 and a fifty-two week high of $107.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 2.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a PE ratio of 34.81, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.73.

BWX Technologies (NYSE:BWXT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The technology company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $725.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $659.42 million. BWX Technologies had a return on equity of 32.38% and a net margin of 9.85%. The business’s revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BWX Technologies will post 3.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BWX Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a positive change from BWX Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. BWX Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.69%.

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.