Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Timken (NYSE:TKR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday, February 3rd. 

According to Zacks, “The Timken Company engineers, manufactures and markets bearings, transmissions, gearboxes, belts, chain and related products, and offers a spectrum of powertrain rebuild and repair services. The leading authority on tapered roller bearings, Timken today applies its deep knowledge of metallurgy, tribology and mechanical power transmission across a variety of bearings and related systems to improve reliability and efficiency of machinery and equipment all around the world. The company’s growing product and services portfolio features many strong industrial brands including Timken, Fafnir, Philadelphia Gear, Carlisle, Drives and Interlube. “

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Jefferies Group raised shares of Timken from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Longbow Research raised shares of Timken from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Timken has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $52.25.

Shares of Timken (NYSE TKR) traded down $1.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $43.80. The stock had a trading volume of 1,044,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 858,691. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Timken has a 52-week low of $41.78 and a 52-week high of $55.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $3,500.00, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.45. 

Timken (NYSE:TKR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $778.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.98 million. Timken had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 14.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. sell-side analysts forecast that Timken will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. 

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 16th. Timken’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.76%. 

In other news, insider Richard G. Kyle sold 9,242 shares of Timken stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.75, for a total transaction of $459,789.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,236 shares in the company, valued at $4,439,491. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jacqueline F. Woods sold 3,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.12, for a total transaction of $151,152.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,415.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,676 shares of company stock valued at $755,088 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.08% of the company’s stock. 

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TKR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Timken by 15.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,048,216 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $325,981,000 after acquiring an additional 917,902 shares during the period. Anchor Bolt Capital LP raised its position in shares of Timken by 171.8% in the fourth quarter. Anchor Bolt Capital LP now owns 1,156,766 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,855,000 after acquiring an additional 731,141 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Timken by 116.9% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 945,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,477,000 after acquiring an additional 509,673 shares during the period. Amundi Pioneer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Timken in the fourth quarter worth about $23,942,000. Finally, Koch Industries Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Timken in the second quarter worth about $375,000. Institutional investors own 77.26% of the company’s stock.