Short Interest in Enpro Inc. (NYSE:NPO) Rises By 23.6%

Enpro Inc. (NYSE:NPO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 582,600 shares, a growth of 23.6% from the February 28th total of 471,200 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 116,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Enpro

In other news, CAO Steven R. Bower sold 997 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.66, for a total transaction of $199,061.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 7,078 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Enpro by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 106,271 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,235,000 after purchasing an additional 4,123 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Enpro by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 10,414 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,689,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Enpro by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 44,440 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,663,000 after purchasing an additional 1,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Enpro by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 101,873 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,568,000 after buying an additional 2,949 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NPO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Enpro from $170.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Enpro from $180.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Enpro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th.

Enpro Stock Performance

NPO opened at $165.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.79 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 2.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.00. Enpro has a 1-year low of $136.68 and a 1-year high of $214.58.

Enpro (NYSE:NPO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.10. Enpro had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company had revenue of $258.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $250.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Enpro’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Enpro will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enpro Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is an increase from Enpro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Enpro’s payout ratio is currently 35.84%.

About Enpro

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.