ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT) Short Interest Up 28.8% in November

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ITT during the 3rd quarter valued at about $67,503,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in ITT during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $49,043,000. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its holdings in shares of ITT by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,340,392 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $431,512,000 after acquiring an additional 351,206 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ITT by 200.4% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 393,429 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $50,823,000 after acquiring an additional 262,470 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ITT by 115.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 245,676 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,717,000 after purchasing an additional 131,708 shares during the period. 91.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ITT Price Performance

ITT stock opened at $150.70 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $151.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $140.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.40. ITT has a 12-month low of $113.70 and a 12-month high of $161.13.

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. The company had revenue of $885.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.50 million. ITT had a return on equity of 17.98% and a net margin of 13.67%. ITT’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that ITT will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current year.

ITT Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.319 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. ITT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ITT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on ITT in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of ITT from $171.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of ITT from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price target 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. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of ITT from $155.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.75.

ITT Company Profile

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.