Enpro (NYSE:NPO) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Enpro (NYSE:NPO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

Enpro Trading Down 2.7 %

NYSE:NPO opened at $188.97 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $166.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $158.10. Enpro has a 52 week low of $134.40 and a 52 week high of $197.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.53 and a beta of 1.48.

Enpro (NYSE:NPO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by ($0.13). Enpro had a net margin of 5.20% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The firm had revenue of $260.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $264.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Enpro will post 6.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enpro Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. Enpro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.69%.

Insider Activity at Enpro

In related news, CAO Steven R. Bower sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.50, for a total transaction of $48,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 130 shares in the company, valued at $21,125. This represents a 69.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NPO. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Enpro by 3.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $466,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC raised its position in Enpro by 100.0% in the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $582,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Leeward Investments LLC MA raised its position in Enpro by 5.6% in the second quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 133,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $19,396,000 after acquiring an additional 7,070 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in Enpro by 1.0% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 10,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,528,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Argent Capital Management LLC raised its position in Enpro by 61.1% in the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $364,000 after acquiring an additional 948 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.31% of the company’s stock.

Enpro Company Profile

Enpro Inc design, develops, manufactures, and markets proprietary, value-added products and solutions to safeguard critical environments in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Sealing Technologies and Advanced Surface Technologies. The Sealing Technologies segment offers single-use hygienic seals, tubing, components and assemblies; metallic, non-metallic, and composite material gaskets; dynamic seals; compression packing; hydraulic components; expansion joints; and wall penetration products for chemical and petrochemical processing, pulp and paper processing, nuclear energy, hydrogen, natural gas, food and biopharmaceutical processing, primary metal manufacturing, mining, water and waste treatment, commercial vehicle, aerospace, medical, filtration, and semiconductor fabrication industries.