Willdan Group, Inc. $WLDN Shares Acquired by Wasatch Advisors LP

Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Willdan Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WLDN) by 45.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 381,581 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 120,110 shares during the quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP’s holdings in Willdan Group were worth $29,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Willdan Group by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,201,517 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $124,549,000 after purchasing an additional 126,247 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Willdan Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 343,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,561,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Willdan Group by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 305,845 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $31,704,000 after buying an additional 6,523 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in shares of Willdan Group by 207.1% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 302,380 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,237,000 after buying an additional 203,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Willdan Group by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 287,278 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,785,000 after buying an additional 3,077 shares in the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Willdan Group Stock Up 3.0%

WLDN stock opened at $81.32 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $87.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.76. Willdan Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.85 and a 12 month high of $137.00. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.92 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68.

Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The construction company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.10. Willdan Group had a net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm had revenue of $92.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.17 million. Willdan Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.900-5.050 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Willdan Group, Inc. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on WLDN. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Willdan Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Willdan Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Wedbush started coverage on shares of Willdan Group in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Willdan Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.67.

Insider Activity at Willdan Group

In other news, CEO Michael A. Bieber sold 56,676 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.58, for a total transaction of $5,190,388.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 249,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,851,499.50. This represents a 18.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

About Willdan Group

Willdan Group, Inc provides energy efficiency, infrastructure engineering, and technical consulting services to a diverse range of public and private sector clients. The company works with utilities, municipalities, state and federal agencies, and commercial enterprises to design, implement, and manage programs that promote sustainable energy use, grid modernization, and resilient infrastructure. Willdan’s offerings span program design and implementation, energy audits, measurement and verification, and project management for both new construction and retrofit initiatives.

Core services include energy advisory and engineering solutions, including feasibility studies, facility commissioning and retro-commissioning, $0 down financing for energy projects, and demand response program development.