Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $320,000 in Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,982 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in Stanley Black & Decker during the 4th quarter worth about $1,287,000. Godsey & Gibb Inc. lifted its position in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 152,440 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,239,000 after purchasing an additional 8,570 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Stanley Black & Decker in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,143,000. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 3,728 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its stake in Stanley Black & Decker by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 2,862 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $230,000 after buying an additional 699 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.77% of the company’s stock.

Stanley Black & Decker Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE SWK opened at $88.21 on Friday. Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.70 and a 12 month high of $110.88. The company has a market capitalization of $13.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -64.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $84.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $93.36.

Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE:SWK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. Stanley Black & Decker had a positive return on equity of 6.44% and a negative net margin of 1.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on SWK. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Stanley Black & Decker from $107.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Stanley Black & Decker from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Stanley Black & Decker from $100.00 to $94.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Stanley Black & Decker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Stanley Black & Decker from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.25.

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 Storage segment, and Industrial segment.