Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA) Sees Large Decline 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. Currently, 4.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 371,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Richard Thomas Miller sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.00, for a total value of $577,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,061,940. The trade was a 35.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Iain Boyd sold 6,044 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.99, for a total transaction of $1,807,095.56. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,137,302.07. This represents a 36.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,814 shares of company stock worth $15,627,963 in the last ninety days. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Snap-on by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,115,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,019,000 after buying an additional 10,645 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Snap-on by 3.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,728,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,848,000 after acquiring an additional 56,266 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Snap-on by 4.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,613,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,199,000 after acquiring an additional 69,590 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in Snap-on by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 942,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,424,000 after purchasing an additional 13,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Snap-on by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 907,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,957,000 after purchasing an additional 78,184 shares during the period. 84.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Snap-on Stock Performance

SNA stock traded down $2.92 during trading on Monday, reaching $352.19. The company had a trading volume of 454,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 313,936. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 3.14 and a current ratio of 4.18. Snap-on has a twelve month low of $252.98 and a twelve month high of $373.89. The company has a market cap of $18.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $340.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $297.44.

Snap-on (NYSE:SNA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $4.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.58 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Snap-on had a net margin of 22.13% and a return on equity of 19.44%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Snap-on will post 19.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Snap-on Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $2.14 dividend. This is an increase from Snap-on’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. This represents a $8.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Snap-on’s dividend payout ratio is 44.06%.

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.