Investment analysts at Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Timken (NYSE:TKR - Get Free Report) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The firm set an "equal weight" rating and a $74.00 price target on the industrial products company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective points to a potential downside of 5.90% from the stock's previous close.

TKR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Timken from $93.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Timken from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Timken from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Timken from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 13th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Timken from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $83.89.

Timken Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TKR opened at $78.64 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a PE ratio of 13.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.56. Timken has a 12 month low of $65.71 and a 12 month high of $95.08.

Timken (NYSE:TKR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.60 by ($0.05). Timken had a return on equity of 19.94% and a net margin of 9.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Timken will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Timken

In other Timken news, CFO Philip D. Fracassa sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.03, for a total transaction of $370,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,868 shares in the company, valued at $6,578,898.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 9.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Timken

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Timken during the second quarter worth $36,000. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Timken by 96.3% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 430 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Timken in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Timken during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Timken during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 84.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.