Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Decreases Holdings in Masco Co. (NYSE:MAS)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its holdings in Masco Co. (NYSE:MAS) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,509 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,114 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Masco were worth $835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Masco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,152,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Masco by 5.9% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 83,459 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $7,006,000 after purchasing an additional 4,620 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank raised its holdings in Masco by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 14,451 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after buying an additional 1,888 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. purchased a new stake in Masco during the 3rd quarter valued at $208,000. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in Masco by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,319 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. 93.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MAS. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Masco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Masco from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer upgraded Masco from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $89.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Masco from $82.00 to $77.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Masco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.32.

Masco Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE MAS opened at $69.65 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $75.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.74. The stock has a market cap of $14.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.24. Masco Co. has a 12 month low of $63.81 and a 12 month high of $86.70.

Masco (NYSE:MAS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The construction company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.01. Masco had a net margin of 10.50% and a return on equity of 838.32%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Masco Co. will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Masco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Masco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. Masco’s dividend payout ratio is 32.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Masco

In related news, CEO Keith J. Allman sold 21,723 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.36, for a total transaction of $1,658,768.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 60,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,601,988.12. This trade represents a 26.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Renee Straber sold 3,139 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.78, for a total value of $225,317.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 33,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,370,678.06. This trade represents a 8.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Masco Profile

Masco Corporation designs, manufactures, and distributes home improvement and building products in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company's Plumbing Products segment offers faucets, showerheads, handheld showers, valves, bath hardware and accessories, bathing units, shower bases and enclosures, sinks, toilets, acrylic tubs, shower trays, spas, exercise pools, and fitness systems; brass, copper, and composite plumbing system components; connected water products; thermoplastic solutions, extruded plastic profiles, specialized fabrications, and PEX tubing products; and other non-decorative plumbing products.