Great Lakes Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Hasbro, Inc. $HAS

Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 148,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,243,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Hasbro by 734.6% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 33,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,770,000 after acquiring an additional 29,735 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Hasbro by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,225,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,522,000 after acquiring an additional 162,354 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Hasbro by 24.5% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 156,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,683,000 after acquiring an additional 30,825 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Hasbro in the fourth quarter worth $317,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Hasbro by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 90,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,404,000 after purchasing an additional 17,544 shares during the last quarter. 91.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hasbro Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of HAS opened at $93.99 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $86.52 and a 200 day moving average of $91.18. Hasbro, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.50 and a fifty-two week high of $106.98. The firm has a market cap of $13.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Hasbro had a net margin of 15.97% and a return on equity of 141.11%. The company’s revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hasbro, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Hasbro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Hasbro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HAS shares. Weiss Ratings raised Hasbro from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Argus increased their price target on shares of Hasbro from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Hasbro from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Hasbro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Hasbro from $122.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hasbro

In other Hasbro news, insider Timothy J. Kilpin sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $1,862,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 54,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,049,804.48. The trade was a 26.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Gina M. Goetter sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.44, for a total value of $1,049,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,408,645.76. The trade was a 11.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 45,415 shares of company stock valued at $4,260,164 over the last 90 days. 0.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hasbro Company Profile

Hasbro, Inc is a global play and entertainment company, known for designing, manufacturing and marketing a diverse portfolio of toys, games and consumer products. Founded in 1923 as Hassenfeld Brothers and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the company has grown into one of the foremost names in the toy industry, with a presence in retail, digital and entertainment channels worldwide.

The company’s brand portfolio features iconic properties such as Monopoly, Play-Doh, Nerf, My Little Pony and Transformers.