Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Purchases 361 Shares of Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) by 20.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,163 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 361 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Advanced Drainage Systems were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Advanced Drainage Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Advanced Drainage Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Advanced Drainage Systems in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Advanced Drainage Systems during the third quarter valued at about $82,000. Institutional investors own 89.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens increased their price target on Advanced Drainage Systems from $138.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Advanced Drainage Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems from $172.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $159.13.

Advanced Drainage Systems Trading Up 2.7 %

WMS stock opened at $169.37 on Tuesday. Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.71 and a twelve month high of $176.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.69.

Advanced Drainage Systems (NYSE:WMS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The construction company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $662.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $632.69 million. Advanced Drainage Systems had a net margin of 17.65% and a return on equity of 49.79%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Advanced Drainage Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Advanced Drainage Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.90%.

Insider Activity at Advanced Drainage Systems

In other news, EVP Michael G. Huebert sold 10,000 shares of Advanced Drainage Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $1,635,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,450 shares in the company, valued at $2,199,344. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Advanced Drainage Systems news, EVP Michael G. Huebert sold 10,000 shares of Advanced Drainage Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $1,635,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,199,344. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ross M. Jones sold 762,895 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.00, for a total transaction of $124,351,885.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 70,749 shares in the company, valued at $11,532,087. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Advanced Drainage Systems Company Profile

Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and markets thermoplastic corrugated pipes and related water management products, and drainage solutions for use in the construction and agriculture marketplaces in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and internationally. The company operates through Pipe, International, Infiltrator, and Allied Products & Other segments.