Argyle Capital Management Inc. Makes New $205,000 Investment in Ingersoll Rand Inc. (NYSE:IR)

Argyle Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ingersoll Rand Inc. (NYSE:IR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 2,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Ingersoll Rand in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ingersoll Rand in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingersoll Rand in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ingersoll Rand by 348.2% in the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 493 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the period. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingersoll Rand in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 95.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Cfra lifted their price objective on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $68.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ingersoll Rand from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Ingersoll Rand in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ingersoll Rand presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.73.

Ingersoll Rand Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Ingersoll Rand stock opened at $93.50 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.86. Ingersoll Rand Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.54 and a 12-month high of $96.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $37.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.21, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.44.

Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.09. Ingersoll Rand had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ingersoll Rand Inc. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingersoll Rand Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Ingersoll Rand’s payout ratio is 4.21%.

Ingersoll Rand declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, April 25th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 2.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ingersoll Rand

In related news, insider Vicente Reynal sold 240,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $21,638,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 91,957 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,290,843.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Michael J. Scheske sold 7,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.00, for a total value of $667,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $854,920. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Vicente Reynal sold 240,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total transaction of $21,638,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 91,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,290,843.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 293,011 shares of company stock worth $26,374,789 in the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ingersoll Rand Company Profile

Ingersoll Rand Inc provides various mission-critical air, gas, liquid, and solid flow creation technologies services and solutions worldwide. It operates through two segments, Industrial Technologies and Services, and Precision and Science Technologies. The Industrial Technologies and Services segment designs, manufactures, markets, and services air and gas compression, vacuum, and blower products; fluid transfer equipment and loading systems; and power tools and lifting equipment, including associated aftermarket parts, consumables, air treatment equipment, controls, other accessories, and services under the under the Ingersoll Rand, Gardner Denver, Nash, CompAir, Elmo Rietschle brands, etc.