Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM) Receives Buy Rating from Benchmark

Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at Benchmark in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $53.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark’s price objective points to a potential downside of 16.88% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Howmet Aerospace from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Howmet Aerospace from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Howmet Aerospace from $65.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Howmet Aerospace from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Howmet Aerospace in a report on Friday, January 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.00.

Howmet Aerospace Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:HWM traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $63.76. 300,551 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,319,502. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Howmet Aerospace has a 52 week low of $42.17 and a 52 week high of $69.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.82, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $65.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.29.

Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.06. Howmet Aerospace had a return on equity of 20.12% and a net margin of 11.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Howmet Aerospace will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Howmet Aerospace news, EVP Neil Edward Marchuk sold 45,000 shares of Howmet Aerospace stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.44, for a total value of $3,034,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 229,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,482,065.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Howmet Aerospace

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HWM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Howmet Aerospace by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,247,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,448,804,000 after purchasing an additional 1,274,974 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Howmet Aerospace by 4.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 23,507,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,087,216,000 after buying an additional 897,463 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Howmet Aerospace by 21.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,086,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $697,734,000 after buying an additional 2,635,894 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Howmet Aerospace by 118.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,239,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $612,307,000 after acquiring an additional 7,184,620 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Howmet Aerospace by 87.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,972,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $593,828,000 after acquiring an additional 5,107,898 shares in the last quarter. 90.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Howmet Aerospace Company Profile

Howmet Aerospace Inc provides advanced engineered solutions for the aerospace and transportation industries in the United States, Japan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Engine Products, Fastening Systems, Engineered Structures, and Forged Wheels.