Morgan Stanley Upgrades Timken (NYSE:TKR) to “Overweight”

Timken (NYSE:TKR) was upgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $93.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $82.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 29.17% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on TKR. Citigroup raised shares of Timken from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $85.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI raised Timken from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Timken in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Timken from $102.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Timken from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Timken has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.90.

Timken Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE TKR opened at $72.00 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50 day moving average is $79.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.22. Timken has a 52-week low of $71.70 and a 52-week high of $94.71. The firm has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.97, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.38.

Timken (NYSE:TKR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.38 by ($0.15). Timken had a net margin of 7.41% and a return on equity of 14.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Timken’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Timken will post 5.61 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Timken news, Director Richard G. Kyle sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.59, for a total transaction of $2,297,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 194,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,895,606.15. This represents a 13.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 8.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Timken

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in shares of Timken by 1.1% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 176,643 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,889,000 after acquiring an additional 1,869 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Timken by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,373 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,502,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Timken by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 8,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $698,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Timken during the third quarter worth about $172,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Timken during the third quarter worth about $409,000. 89.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Timken

The Timken Company designs, manufactures, and sells engineered bearings and industrial motion products, and related services in the United States and internationally. The company's Engineered Bearings segment provides various bearing products, including tapered, spherical, and cylindrical roller bearings; plain bearings, metal-polymer bearings, and rod end bearings; radial, angular, and precision ball bearings; thrust and specialty ball bearings; journal bearings; and housed or mounted bearings.