Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,000,000 shares, a drop of 19.2% from the November 30th total of 4,950,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Stanley Black & Decker

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SWK. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in Stanley Black & Decker by 60.9% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 29,455 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,353,000 after buying an additional 11,151 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Stanley Black & Decker by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,062,992 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $998,107,000 after acquiring an additional 549,531 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Stanley Black & Decker by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,579,852 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $392,882,000 after purchasing an additional 35,100 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 40.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 923,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $101,663,000 after purchasing an additional 267,723 shares during the period. Finally, New South Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 7.4% in the third quarter. New South Capital Management Inc. now owns 236,219 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,015,000 after purchasing an additional 16,229 shares in the last quarter. 87.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on SWK shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Stanley Black & Decker from $107.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their target price on Stanley Black & Decker from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Stanley Black & Decker from $94.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Stanley Black & Decker from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised Stanley Black & Decker from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.25.

Stanley Black & Decker Stock Performance

SWK stock traded down $0.75 during trading on Monday, reaching $79.83. The stock had a trading volume of 801,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,469,424. The firm has a market cap of $12.31 billion, a PE ratio of -58.27, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $88.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.42. Stanley Black & Decker has a 52 week low of $77.70 and a 52 week high of $110.88.

Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE:SWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.80 billion. Stanley Black & Decker had a negative net margin of 1.33% and a positive return on equity of 6.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Stanley Black & Decker will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Stanley Black & Decker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Stanley Black & Decker’s payout ratio is -239.42%.

Stanley Black & Decker Company Profile

Stanley Black & Decker, Inc provides hand tools, power tools, outdoor products, and related accessories in the United States, Canada, Other Americas, Europe, and Asia. Its Tools & Outdoor segment offers professional grade corded and cordless electric power tools and equipment, including drills, impact wrenches and drivers, grinders, saws, routers, and sanders; pneumatic tools and fasteners, such as nail guns, nails, staplers and staples, and concrete and masonry anchors; corded and cordless electric power tools; hand-held vacuums, paint tools, and cleaning appliances; leveling and layout tools, planes, hammers, demolition tools, clamps, vises, knives, saws, chisels, and industrial and automotive tools; drill, screwdriver, router bits, abrasives, saw blades, and threading products; tool boxes, sawhorses, medical cabinets, and engineered storage solutions; and electric and gas-powered lawn and garden products.