Stanley Black & Decker Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:SWK)

Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 5,778 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 216% compared to the typical volume of 1,830 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SWK shares. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Stanley Black & Decker from $135.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Stanley Black & Decker from $121.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Stanley Black & Decker from $94.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Mizuho upgraded shares of 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Stanley Black & Decker in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.20.

Stanley Black & Decker Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of Stanley Black & Decker stock opened at $62.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Stanley Black & Decker has a twelve month low of $57.77 and a twelve month high of $110.88. The company has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $83.50 and its 200 day moving average is $89.24.

Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE:SWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.21. Stanley Black & Decker had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 1.92%. Research analysts anticipate that Stanley Black & Decker will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

Stanley Black & Decker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. Stanley Black & Decker’s payout ratio is currently 169.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Stanley Black & Decker

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sage Capital Advisors llc raised its position in Stanley Black & Decker by 1.1% in the first quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 32,814 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,523,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Stanley Black & Decker by 325.5% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,906 shares during the period. Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Stanley Black & Decker during the first quarter valued at about $310,000. Rempart Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Stanley Black & Decker by 19.2% in the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 127,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,831,000 after buying an additional 20,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,673 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $777,000 after buying an additional 1,188 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.77% of the company’s stock.

About Stanley Black & Decker

Stanley Black & Decker, Inc engages in the provision of power and hand tools, and related accessories, products, services and equipment for oil and gas, infrastructure applications, commercial electronic security and monitoring systems, healthcare solutions, and mechanical access solutions. It operates through the Tools and Outdoor and Industrial segments.