Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) Upgraded at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $72.00 target price on the stock.

HAS has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $84.00 price target (down from $88.00) on shares of Hasbro in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Hasbro from $82.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Hasbro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Hasbro to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Hasbro from $68.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.89.

Hasbro Price Performance

NASDAQ:HAS opened at $60.99 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.99. Hasbro has a 52-week low of $49.00 and a 52-week high of $73.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.85, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.51.

Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $887.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.60 million. Hasbro had a net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 47.93%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hasbro will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hasbro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.59%. Hasbro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.82%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Hasbro by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,358,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,599,000 after buying an additional 404,527 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Hasbro by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,371,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,269,000 after acquiring an additional 59,794 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Hasbro by 313.8% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 3,200,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,960,000 after acquiring an additional 2,427,299 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Hasbro by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,159,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,649,000 after acquiring an additional 701,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hasbro by 28,552.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,789,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,967,000 after purchasing an additional 2,779,877 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.83% of the company’s stock.

About Hasbro

Hasbro, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a toy and game company in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Australia, China, and Hong Kong. The company operates through Consumer Products; Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming; Entertainment; and Corporate and Other segments.