Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $138,000 in Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 13,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $138,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Newell Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $72,431,000. Oak Thistle LLC grew its holdings in shares of Newell Brands by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 156,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,556,000 after purchasing an additional 37,634 shares during the period. Accurate Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Newell Brands by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Newell Brands by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 28,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 1,625 shares during the period. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Newell Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $762,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NWL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial raised Newell Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $10.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Newell Brands from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Newell Brands from $9.50 to $10.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Newell Brands from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Newell Brands from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.70.

Insider Transactions at Newell Brands

In related news, insider Tracy L. Platt sold 23,343 shares of Newell Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.31, for a total value of $240,666.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford R. Turner sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.96, for a total value of $179,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 230,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,075.84. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Newell Brands Trading Up 2.4 %

NWL opened at $10.66 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $10.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.50. Newell Brands Inc. has a 12 month low of $5.39 and a 12 month high of $11.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.77, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.89.

Newell Brands (NASDAQ:NWL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Newell Brands had a negative net margin of 3.22% and a positive return on equity of 10.22%. Newell Brands’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Newell Brands Inc. will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Newell Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Newell Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -46.67%.

About Newell Brands

Newell Brands Inc engages in the design, manufacture, sourcing, and distribution of consumer and commercial products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Home and Commercial Solutions, Learning and Development, and Outdoor and Recreation. The Commercial Solutions segment provides commercial cleaning and maintenance solution products under the Rubbermaid, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Mapa, and Spontex brands; closet and garage organization products; hygiene systems and material handling solutions; household products, such as kitchen appliances under the Crockpot, Mr.