12,000 Shares in Willdan Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WLDN) Bought by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. purchased a new stake in Willdan Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WLDN) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 12,000 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Willdan Group by 62.6% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 5,200 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 2,001 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Willdan Group by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 55,283 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after acquiring an additional 2,210 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Willdan Group by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,330 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $865,000 after acquiring an additional 9,441 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Willdan Group by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,776 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 1,448 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EAM Investors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Willdan Group in the third quarter valued at $1,183,000. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Willdan Group Price Performance

Shares of WLDN stock opened at $28.30 on Monday. Willdan Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.86 and a 52 week high of $30.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $391.11 million, a PE ratio of 35.82 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $25.67 and its 200-day moving average is $21.87.

Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The construction company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $155.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.00 million. Willdan Group had a net margin of 2.14% and a return on equity of 10.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Willdan Group, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Fund L.P. Forager sold 10,456 shares of Willdan Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $311,902.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,900,057 shares in the company, valued at $56,678,700.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 9.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 target price (up from $27.00) on shares of Willdan Group in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Willdan Group from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Willdan Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 16th.

Willdan Group Company Profile

Willdan Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides professional, technical, and consulting services primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Energy, and Engineering and Consulting. The Energy segment offers comprehensive audit and surveys, program design and implementation, master planning, demand reduction, grid optimization, benchmarking analyses, design engineering, construction management, performance contracting, installation, alternative financing, measurement and verification services, and software and data analytics, as well as energy consulting and engineering, turnkey facility and infrastructure projects, and customer support services.