Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,210,000 shares, a drop of 20.8% from the November 15th total of 2,790,000 shares. Approximately 4.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 371,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on SNA. Barrington Research raised their target price on Snap-on from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Snap-on from $290.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America raised their price target on Snap-on from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Snap-on from $336.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price target on Snap-on from $324.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Snap-on currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $345.40.

Snap-on Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE SNA traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $355.11. The stock had a trading volume of 263,855 shares, compared to its average volume of 348,941. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $340.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $297.44. The firm has a market cap of $18.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.98. Snap-on has a fifty-two week low of $252.98 and a fifty-two week high of $373.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 4.18 and a quick ratio of 3.14.

Snap-on (NYSE:SNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $4.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.58 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. Snap-on had a return on equity of 19.44% and a net margin of 22.13%. Research analysts anticipate that Snap-on will post 19.05 EPS for the current year.

Snap-on Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $2.14 dividend. This is a boost from Snap-on’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. This represents a $8.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Snap-on’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nicholas T. Pinchuk sold 21,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.83, for a total transaction of $7,729,261.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 769,738 shares in the company, valued at $273,126,134.54. This trade represents a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Richard Thomas Miller sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.00, for a total value of $577,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,061,940. This trade represents a 35.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 45,814 shares of company stock worth $15,627,963. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SNA. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Snap-on by 248.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 48,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,729,000 after purchasing an additional 34,737 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Snap-on by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,946 shares of the company’s stock worth $770,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Snap-on in the 2nd quarter worth $246,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Snap-on by 84.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Snap-on by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,928,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. 84.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Snap-on

Snap-on Incorporated manufactures and markets tools, equipment, diagnostics, and repair information and systems solutions for professional users worldwide. It operates through Commercial & Industrial Group, Snap-on Tools Group, Repair Systems & Information Group, and Financial Services segments.