New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Stock Position in Encore Wire Co. (NASDAQ:WIRE)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in shares of Encore Wire Co. (NASDAQ:WIRE) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,197 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 557 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Encore Wire were worth $1,751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in Encore Wire by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 49,324 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $10,668,000 after buying an additional 10,366 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Encore Wire in the third quarter worth about $1,840,000. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Encore Wire by 501.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 74,015 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $13,505,000 after purchasing an additional 61,714 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Encore Wire by 2,928.3% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 5,996 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 5,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd increased its holdings in Encore Wire by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd now owns 27,272 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WIRE shares. Sidoti reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Encore Wire in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Encore Wire from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $295.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. CJS Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Encore Wire in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Encore Wire in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

Encore Wire Trading Down 0.1 %

WIRE stock opened at $281.02 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.91 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $258.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $225.21. Encore Wire Co. has a 12-month low of $150.51 and a 12-month high of $295.90.

Encore Wire (NASDAQ:WIRE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The electronics maker reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.27. Encore Wire had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 17.77%. The company had revenue of $632.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $579.64 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Encore Wire Co. will post 21.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Encore Wire Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.03%. Encore Wire’s payout ratio is currently 0.42%.

Encore Wire Profile

Encore Wire Corporation engages in manufacture and sale of electrical building wires and cables in the United States. It offers NM-B cables, UF-B cables, THHN/THWN-2, XHHW-2, USE-2, RHH/RHW-2, and other types of wire products, including SEU, SER, photovoltaic, URD, tray cables, metal-clads, and armored cables.