Short Interest in Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL) Increases By 21.0%

Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 22,610,000 shares, an increase of 21.0% from the February 28th total of 18,680,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Approximately 5.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on NWL shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Newell Brands from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Newell Brands from $9.50 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on Newell Brands from $9.50 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Newell Brands from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Newell Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $10.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.58.

Newell Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Newell Brands stock opened at $5.96 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.48. Newell Brands has a fifty-two week low of $5.39 and a fifty-two week high of $11.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.88.

Newell Brands (NASDAQ:NWL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. Newell Brands had a negative net margin of 2.85% and a positive return on equity of 9.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Newell Brands will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Newell Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Newell Brands’s payout ratio is presently -53.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Newell Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Newell Brands by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,892,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $467,053,000 after buying an additional 1,974,823 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Newell Brands by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,089,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,172,000 after purchasing an additional 3,188,718 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Newell Brands by 233.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,527,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,695,000 after purchasing an additional 10,172,696 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its holdings in Newell Brands by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 12,760,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,091,000 after buying an additional 1,363,913 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Newell Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $72,431,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.50% of the company’s stock.

Newell Brands Company Profile

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.