Cactus (NYSE:WHD) Upgraded to “Neutral” at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Cactus (NYSE:WHD) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $40.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $39.00.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Cactus from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Zacks Research cut Cactus from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Cactus from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cactus in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $52.00 price objective (down from $53.00) on shares of Cactus in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.75.

Cactus Stock Up 7.5%

WHD opened at $42.36 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.41. Cactus has a 52 week low of $33.20 and a 52 week high of $70.01. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a PE ratio of 15.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 4.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Cactus (NYSE:WHD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.09. Cactus had a return on equity of 17.34% and a net margin of 16.19%.The firm had revenue of $263.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $253.89 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Cactus will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cactus Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Cactus’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cactus news, EVP William D. Marsh sold 10,172 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.32, for a total value of $420,307.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,088 shares in the company, valued at $458,156.16. This trade represents a 47.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cactus

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WHD. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Cactus in the second quarter worth about $30,648,000. Millennium Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cactus during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,924,000. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cactus during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,457,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cactus by 10,002.6% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 458,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,993,000 after purchasing an additional 453,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cactus by 130.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 694,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,340,000 after purchasing an additional 393,260 shares during the last quarter. 85.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cactus

Cactus, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, sells, and leases pressure control and spoolable pipes in the United States, Australia, Canada, the Middle East, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Pressure Control and Spoolable Technologies. The Pressure Control segment designs, manufactures, sells, and rents a range of wellhead and pressure control equipment under the Cactus Wellhead brand name through service centers.