ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT) was the target of a large growth in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 743,500 shares, a growth of 21.4% from the June 30th total of 612,600 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 417,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ITT has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on ITT from $136.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of ITT from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of ITT from $139.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of ITT from $135.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of ITT from $150.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $144.88.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ITT

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in ITT in the fourth quarter worth about $992,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of ITT by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,463,809 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,009,902,000 after purchasing an additional 65,173 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of ITT by 383.3% during the 1st quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 9,666 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 7,666 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of ITT in the 4th quarter worth approximately $102,709,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in ITT by 6.0% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 108,105 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $14,706,000 after purchasing an additional 6,143 shares during the last quarter. 91.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ITT Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of ITT stock traded down $0.03 on Tuesday, hitting $140.82. The stock had a trading volume of 353,411 shares, compared to its average volume of 384,884. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The business has a 50 day moving average of $132.35 and a 200 day moving average of $129.58. ITT has a 12-month low of $91.94 and a 12-month high of $144.03. The stock has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.42.

ITT (NYSE:ITT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The conglomerate reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.06. ITT had a net margin of 12.41% and a return on equity of 18.21%. The firm had revenue of $910.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $883.21 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that ITT will post 5.85 EPS for the current year.

ITT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a $0.319 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. ITT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.10%.

About ITT

ITT Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells engineered critical components and customized technology solutions for the transportation, industrial, and energy markets in the United States and internationally. The Motion Technologies segment manufactures brake pads, shims, shock absorbers, and energy absorption components; and sealing technologies primarily for the transportation industry, including passenger cars, trucks, light- and heavy-duty commercial and military vehicles, buses, and trains.