Tennant (NYSE:TNC) Raised to "Strong-Buy" at StockNews.com

Tennant (NYSE:TNC - Get Free Report) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

Separately, Northcoast Research initiated coverage on Tennant in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock.

Tennant Stock Performance

TNC traded down $2.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $86.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 319,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 177,345. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.85 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Tennant has a twelve month low of $78.57 and a twelve month high of $124.11.

Tennant (NYSE:TNC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $328.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.00 million. Tennant had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 6.51%. Research analysts expect that Tennant will post 5.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Tennant announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 13th that permits the company to repurchase 2,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the industrial products company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Tennant

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Tennant by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,394,271 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $195,205,000 after acquiring an additional 12,422 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Tennant by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 684,156 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $65,707,000 after acquiring an additional 3,164 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Tennant by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 597,181 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $48,688,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tennant by 143.6% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 462,838 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $37,735,000 after acquiring an additional 272,858 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tennant by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 436,933 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $41,971,000 after buying an additional 5,862 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.33% of the company's stock.

About Tennant

Tennant Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets floor cleaning equipment in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers a suite of products, including floor maintenance and cleaning equipment, detergent-free and other sustainable cleaning technologies, aftermarket parts and consumables, equipment maintenance and repair services, and asset management solutions.