Enpro Inc. (NYSE:NPO) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Enpro Inc. (NYSE:NPO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 582,600 shares, an increase of 23.6% from the February 28th total of 471,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 116,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days. Currently, 2.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NPO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on Enpro from $180.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Enpro from $170.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Enpro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th.

Enpro Price Performance

Shares of NPO opened at $165.36 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of 47.79 and a beta of 1.52. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.00. Enpro has a 1-year low of $136.68 and a 1-year high of $214.58.

Enpro (NYSE:NPO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $258.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $250.10 million. Enpro had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Enpro will post 7.38 EPS for the current year.

Enpro Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a positive change from Enpro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Enpro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.84%.

Insider Transactions at Enpro

In other news, CAO Steven R. Bower sold 997 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.66, for a total transaction of $199,061.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Enpro by 102.7% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 13,972 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,266,000 after purchasing an additional 7,078 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Enpro by 4.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 106,271 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,235,000 after purchasing an additional 4,123 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Enpro by 10.6% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 10,414 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,689,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Enpro by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 44,440 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,663,000 after purchasing an additional 1,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Enpro by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 101,873 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,568,000 after buying an additional 2,949 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.31% of the company’s stock.

About Enpro

Enpro Inc design, develops, manufactures, and markets proprietary, value-added products and solutions to safeguard critical environments in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Sealing Technologies and Advanced Surface Technologies. The Sealing Technologies segment offers single-use hygienic seals, tubing, components and assemblies; metallic, non-metallic, and composite material gaskets; dynamic seals; compression packing; hydraulic components; expansion joints; and wall penetration products for chemical and petrochemical processing, pulp and paper processing, nuclear energy, hydrogen, natural gas, food and biopharmaceutical processing, primary metal manufacturing, mining, water and waste treatment, commercial vehicle, aerospace, medical, filtration, and semiconductor fabrication industries.