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

ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,340,000 shares, an increase of 28.8% from the November 15th total of 1,040,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 373,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ITT

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ITT. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of ITT by 1.3% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,334 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ITT by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,973 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,457,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in ITT by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,409 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Round Rock Advisors LLC increased its position in ITT by 0.4% during the third quarter. Round Rock Advisors LLC now owns 20,319 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,038,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its stake in ITT by 3.3% in the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 2,925 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 91.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ITT. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of ITT from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on ITT from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup lifted their target price on ITT from $176.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp upped their price target on ITT from $155.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on ITT from $171.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.75.

ITT Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:ITT opened at $150.70 on Monday. ITT has a 1 year low of $113.70 and a 1 year high of $161.13. The stock has a market cap of $12.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.58. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.64.

ITT (NYSE:ITT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The conglomerate reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.03. ITT had a return on equity of 17.98% and a net margin of 13.67%. The firm had revenue of $885.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that ITT will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ITT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.319 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. ITT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

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.