Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of RBC Bearings Incorporated (NASDAQ:ROLL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.



According to Zacks, “Over the last six months, RBC Bearings’ shares outperformed the Zacks categorized Machinery-General Industrial industry. Improved aerospace business and higher mining, semiconductor as well as marine sales are likely to boost the company’s revenues in the near term. In addition, the company intends to improve its margins on the back of greater operational efficacy. However, certain headwinds such as weak energy resource prices, sluggish domestic demand of emerging markets and a stronger U.S. dollar might hurt the company’s top- and bottom-line results in the upcoming quarters. Moreover, other issues such as extensive industry rivalry and increasing costs, if left unchecked, remain major causes of worry for the company. RBC Bearings reported mixed third-quarter fiscal 2017 results. Over the last 30 days, Zacks Consensus Estimate for the stock has remained unchanged for both fiscal 2017 and 2018.”



Separately, William Blair upgraded RBC Bearings from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report on Monday, December 12th.



Shares of RBC Bearings (NASDAQ:ROLL) opened at 97.56 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $92.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.92. The firm has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.89 and a beta of 1.17. RBC Bearings has a 12 month low of $67.99 and a 12 month high of $99.92.



RBC Bearings (NASDAQ:ROLL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 8th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. RBC Bearings had a return on equity of 11.32% and a net margin of 11.01%. The company had revenue of $146.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $147.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that RBC Bearings will post $3.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.



In other RBC Bearings news, insider Michael J. Hartnett sold 1,828 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.42, for a total value of $172,599.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 54,896 shares of company stock valued at $5,199,035 over the last three months. Company insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.



A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROLL. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in RBC Bearings by 1.8% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of RBC Bearings by 6.5% in the third quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 558,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,687,000 after buying an additional 33,987 shares during the period. 1st Global Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of RBC Bearings by 16.1% in the third quarter. 1st Global Advisors Inc. now owns 8,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $655,000 after buying an additional 1,187 shares during the period. Nationwide Fund Advisors boosted its position in shares of RBC Bearings by 13.4% in the third quarter. Nationwide Fund Advisors now owns 134,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,324,000 after buying an additional 15,998 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in shares of RBC Bearings by 11.3% in the third quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 549,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,989,000 after buying an additional 55,951 shares during the period.