Synovus Financial Corp Acquires New Position in Owens Corning (NYSE:OC)

Synovus Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Owens Corning (NYSE:OC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,908 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $337,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in Owens Corning by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,181,421 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $738,104,000 after acquiring an additional 187,001 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Owens Corning by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,854,100 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $327,286,000 after buying an additional 261,564 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Owens Corning by 31.6% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 824,013 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $145,455,000 after buying an additional 197,667 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Owens Corning by 168.3% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 741,262 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $128,772,000 after acquiring an additional 464,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Owens Corning by 3.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 727,275 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $128,379,000 after acquiring an additional 24,522 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on OC shares. Barclays upgraded Owens Corning from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $192.00 to $245.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Owens Corning from $213.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Owens Corning from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Owens Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Owens Corning from $189.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.83.

Owens Corning Stock Performance

Owens Corning stock opened at $174.44 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $14.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.42. Owens Corning has a 1-year low of $138.70 and a 1-year high of $214.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $191.28 and a 200-day moving average of $178.02.

Owens Corning (NYSE:OC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The construction company reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.33. Owens Corning had a return on equity of 25.82% and a net margin of 9.92%. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Owens Corning will post 15.46 EPS for the current year.

Owens Corning Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Monday, January 6th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. This is an increase from Owens Corning’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 6th. Owens Corning’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.49%.

Insider Transactions at Owens Corning

In related news, insider Gunner Smith sold 17,450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.19, for a total value of $3,336,265.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,866 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,990.54. This trade represents a 48.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Owens Corning Company Profile

Owens Corning manufactures and sells building and construction materials in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Roofing, Insulation, and Composites. The Roofing segment manufactures and sells laminate and strip asphalt roofing shingles, oxidized asphalt materials, and roofing components used in residential and commercial construction, and specialty applications.