Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE:SWK)

Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 4,138 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 59% compared to the average volume of 2,610 call options.

Institutional Trading of Stanley Black & Decker

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 21,892 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,506 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 4,494 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 5,056 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,911,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. 87.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Stanley Black & Decker Stock Up 15.9%

Shares of Stanley Black & Decker stock opened at $72.62 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.37. Stanley Black & Decker has a 1 year low of $53.91 and a 1 year high of $110.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.01. The stock has a market cap of $11.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.43, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.19.

Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE:SWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.07. Stanley Black & Decker had a net margin of 1.92% and a return on equity of 7.50%. The business had revenue of $3.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Stanley Black & Decker will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stanley Black & Decker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 3rd. Stanley Black & Decker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 136.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on SWK. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Stanley Black & Decker from $94.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Stanley Black & Decker from $93.00 to $60.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Stanley Black & Decker in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Stanley Black & Decker from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Stanley Black & Decker from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stanley Black & Decker currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.70.

Stanley Black & Decker Company Profile

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.