Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Newell Brands (NASDAQ:NWL)

Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 8,613 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 454% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,555 call options.

Newell Brands Price Performance

Shares of NWL opened at $7.79 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $7.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.73. Newell Brands has a fifty-two week low of $6.49 and a fifty-two week high of $12.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of -8.20, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.95. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Newell Brands had a negative net margin of 4.77% and a positive return on equity of 10.24%. The company’s revenue was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Newell Brands will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Newell Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. Newell Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -29.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Newell Brands from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group cut shares of Newell Brands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $8.50 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Newell Brands from $8.50 to $7.75 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Raymond James cut shares of Newell Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Newell Brands from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.13.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC increased its stake in Newell Brands by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 55,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 9,662 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Newell Brands by 1,213.6% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 470,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,253,000 after purchasing an additional 435,133 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Newell Brands by 481.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,406,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,819,000 after purchasing an additional 4,476,644 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Newell Brands by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,059,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,658,000 after purchasing an additional 679,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Newell Brands by 88,271.7% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 162,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 162,420 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.50% of the company’s stock.

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.