Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires New Position in Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 210,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,825,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of Newell Brands as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NWL. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Newell Brands by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 16,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 4,413 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Newell Brands by 45.5% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 90,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,000 after purchasing an additional 28,320 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Newell Brands by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 89,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $773,000 after purchasing an additional 11,450 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Newell Brands by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 50,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 13,760 shares during the period. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in Newell Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $556,000. Institutional investors own 92.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NWL. Raymond James lowered shares of Newell Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. UBS Group lowered shares of Newell Brands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $8.50 in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Newell Brands from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Newell Brands from $8.50 to $7.75 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Newell Brands from $9.00 to $7.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.13.

Newell Brands Stock Performance

NWL stock opened at $6.94 on Friday. Newell Brands Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.49 and a 52-week high of $12.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $7.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Newell Brands (NASDAQ:NWL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. Newell Brands had a negative net margin of 4.77% and a positive return on equity of 10.24%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Newell Brands Inc. will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Newell Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. Newell Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently -29.47%.

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.