Short Interest in Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK) Decreases By 19.2%

Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK) was the target 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. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of Stanley Black & Decker from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com cut Stanley Black & Decker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on Stanley Black & Decker from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Stanley Black & Decker from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Stanley Black & Decker from $94.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Stanley Black & Decker presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.25.

Stanley Black & Decker Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE SWK traded down $0.33 on Friday, reaching $80.58. 870,052 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,472,092. The company has a 50 day moving average of $88.89 and a 200 day moving average of $93.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Stanley Black & Decker has a fifty-two week low of $77.70 and a fifty-two week high of $110.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.42 billion, a PE ratio of -58.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.23.

Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE:SWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. Stanley Black & Decker had a negative net margin of 1.33% and a positive return on equity of 6.44%. Stanley Black & Decker’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Stanley Black & Decker will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stanley Black & Decker Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Stanley Black & Decker’s payout ratio is currently -239.42%.

Institutional Trading of Stanley Black & Decker

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

About Stanley Black & Decker

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.