StockNews.com Upgrades Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) to “Strong-Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on WLDN. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Willdan Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. They issued an outperform rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Willdan Group from $34.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

Willdan Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WLDN stock opened at $41.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $577.14 million, a P/E ratio of 44.91 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $37.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.86. Willdan Group has a twelve month low of $17.09 and a twelve month high of $42.70.

Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The construction company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.15. Willdan Group had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $141.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $123.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Willdan Group will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Willdan Group

In other Willdan Group news, CEO Michael A. Bieber sold 10,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.61, for a total transaction of $378,767.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 169,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,213,668.86. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Willdan Group news, CEO Michael A. Bieber sold 10,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.61, for a total transaction of $378,767.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 169,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,213,668.86. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael A. Bieber sold 9,209 shares of Willdan Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.36, for a total transaction of $334,839.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 169,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,171,237.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 218,535 shares of company stock worth $6,739,175. 9.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Willdan Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in shares of Willdan Group by 56.0% in the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 25,072 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 8,997 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Willdan Group by 16.2% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 16,703 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,329 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Willdan Group by 1.0% during the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 55,823 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Willdan Group by 82.5% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,080 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in shares of Willdan Group by 19.3% in the first quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 23,165 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 3,750 shares during the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Willdan Group

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.