Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL Acquires New Stake in Energizer Holdings Inc (ENR)

Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL bought a new position in shares of Energizer Holdings Inc (NYSE:ENR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $667,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Energizer during the 1st quarter worth $181,490,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Energizer by 94.1% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 969,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,774,000 after buying an additional 470,010 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Energizer by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,070,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $242,501,000 after buying an additional 412,293 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Energizer during the 2nd quarter worth $25,538,000. Finally, Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Energizer by 79.3% during the 1st quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. now owns 836,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,813,000 after buying an additional 369,746 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.33% of the company’s stock.

In related news, EVP Gregory T. Kinder sold 3,810 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $247,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $247,715. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Emily K. Boss sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $139,104. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 23,794 shares of company stock valued at $1,532,609. Company insiders own 1.79% of the company’s stock.

ENR has been the topic of a number of research reports. TheStreet upgraded Energizer from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, June 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Energizer to a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 19th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Energizer from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 16th. ValuEngine upgraded Energizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Energizer from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. The stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.20.
ENR stock opened at $64.07 on Thursday. Energizer Holdings Inc has a fifty-two week low of $40.64 and a fifty-two week high of $65.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.43, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.82. The company has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.80.

Energizer (NYSE:ENR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The business had revenue of $392.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.13 million. Energizer had a return on equity of 359.49% and a net margin of 6.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. equities research analysts forecast that Energizer Holdings Inc will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 16th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 15th. Energizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.93%.