Fruth Investment Management Sells 890 Shares of Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK)

Fruth Investment Management lowered its stake in Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 890 shares during the period. Fruth Investment Management’s holdings in Stanley Black & Decker were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Stanley Black & Decker during the fourth quarter worth $1,386,000. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in Stanley Black & Decker during the 4th quarter worth about $1,287,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Stanley Black & Decker by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,062,992 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $998,107,000 after purchasing an additional 549,531 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 923,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $101,663,000 after buying an additional 267,723 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Stanley Black & Decker by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,579,852 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $392,882,000 after buying an additional 35,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SWK. 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 research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Mizuho raised Stanley Black & Decker from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Stanley Black & Decker from $107.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Stanley Black & Decker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Stanley Black & Decker from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.25.

Stanley Black & Decker Stock Performance

Shares of SWK opened at $85.57 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 1.29. Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.70 and a 12 month high of $110.88.

Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE:SWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.21. Stanley Black & Decker had a positive return on equity of 6.44% and a negative net margin of 1.33%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stanley Black & Decker Company Profile

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.