Argent Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Enpro Inc. (NYSE:NPO)

Argent Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Enpro Inc. (NYSE:NPO) by 38.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,535 shares during the quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Enpro were worth $951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Enpro by 4.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 106,271 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,235,000 after buying an additional 4,123 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 7,078 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Enpro in the third quarter worth $99,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in Enpro by 10.6% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 1,494 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Enpro by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 484,216 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,545,000 after buying an additional 5,502 shares during the last quarter. 98.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on NPO. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Enpro from $180.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut Enpro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Enpro from $170.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th.

Enpro Price Performance

Shares of NPO stock opened at $168.17 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $177.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.87. Enpro Inc. has a 52-week low of $136.68 and a 52-week high of $197.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.44 and a beta of 1.50.

Enpro (NYSE:NPO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by ($0.13). Enpro had a net margin of 5.20% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The business had revenue of $260.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $264.47 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.58 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Enpro Inc. will post 6.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Enpro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Enpro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Enpro

In other Enpro news, CAO Steven R. Bower sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.50, for a total transaction of $48,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,125. This represents a 69.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Enpro Profile

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.