Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning.

WLDN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Roth Mkm raised their price target 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. Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of Willdan Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. They issued an outperform rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company.

Willdan Group Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ WLDN opened at $40.29 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Willdan Group has a 12-month low of $17.09 and a 12-month high of $41.54. The company has a market cap of $556.69 million, a P/E ratio of 43.32 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael A. Bieber sold 10,346 shares of Willdan Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.61, for a total value of $378,767.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 169,726 shares in the company, valued at $6,213,668.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Michael A. Bieber sold 10,346 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.61, for a total value of $378,767.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 169,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,213,668.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Fund L.P. Forager sold 188,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.93, for a total value of $5,633,723.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,255,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,585,046.45. 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 currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Willdan Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Willdan Group by 56.0% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 25,072 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $541,000 after buying an additional 8,997 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Willdan Group by 16.2% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 16,703 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 2,329 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Willdan Group by 1.0% in the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 55,823 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings 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 valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in shares of Willdan Group by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 23,165 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 3,750 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Willdan Group Company Profile

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.