Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) Stock Gets Downgrade from Zacks Research

Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on WLDN. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Willdan Group in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Willdan Group in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Yorkville Ives assumed coverage on shares of Willdan Group in a report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Willdan Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Willdan Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.33.

Willdan Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WLDN traded down $4.63 during trading on Thursday, reaching $66.22. The stock had a trading volume of 411,048 shares, compared to its average volume of 215,240. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $77.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.87. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 1.28. Willdan Group has a 1-year low of $61.51 and a 1-year high of $137.00.

Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The construction company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $214.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.77 million. Willdan Group had a return on equity of 24.51% and a net margin of 8.80%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Willdan Group will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas Brisbin sold 4,905 shares of Willdan Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.36, for a total transaction of $389,260.80. Following the transaction, the director owned 96,687 shares in the company, valued at $7,673,080.32. The trade was a 4.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 67,101 shares of company stock valued at $5,871,388. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Willdan Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Willdan Group during the second quarter worth about $113,795,000. Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in Willdan Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,939,611. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Willdan Group by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 550,651 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $40,572,000 after purchasing an additional 159,931 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Willdan Group by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 308,947 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $23,652,000 after purchasing an additional 21,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Willdan Group by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 286,858 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $21,962,000 after buying an additional 49,161 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Willdan Group News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Willdan Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Willdan raised its FY 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $5.15–$5.25, above the $4.87 consensus estimate. Earnings call transcript
• Positive Sentiment: Q3 contract revenue rose 17.9% to $214.5 million, net revenue increased 18.1% to $112.2 million, and adjusted EBITDA climbed 22.4% to $28.3 million. Adjusted EPS of $1.20 topped analyst expectations. Third-quarter results
• Positive Sentiment: Willdan was selected as one of 26 providers for the New York Power Authority’s Energy Services Program, with work available under ten-year contracts as projects are assigned. It also announced engineering work for 643 MW of energy infrastructure projects. NYPA selection Energy infrastructure projects
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s revenue guidance of $435–$445 million was reported against a $746.5 million consensus estimate, a sizable apparent shortfall. The figures may not be directly comparable, so investors may seek clarification on the revenue measure used. Earnings call transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Despite growth in adjusted EBITDA, net income fell 13.6%, GAAP diluted EPS declined 15.6% to $0.76, and adjusted diluted EPS edged down 0.8% year over year. The weaker bottom-line comparisons may have weighed on investor sentiment. Third-quarter results

Willdan Group Company Profile

Willdan Group, Inc (NASDAQ:WLDN) is a professional services company that provides technical, consulting and infrastructure solutions to utilities, government agencies and commercial clients. The company operates primarily in the United States, with a strong presence in California and other markets where energy, infrastructure and public-sector modernization services are in demand.

Through its energy-focused operations, Willdan designs and implements energy-efficiency, demand-response, electrification and distributed-energy programs.