Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. $SPB

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SPB) by 0.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 449,359 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,448 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.71% of Spectrum Brands worth $32,152,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Spectrum Brands by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Spectrum Brands by 100.8% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 5,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,000 after purchasing an additional 2,834 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Spectrum Brands by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 81,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,927,000 after purchasing an additional 9,835 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Spectrum Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $972,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Spectrum Brands by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 20,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SPB shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Spectrum Brands from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Spectrum Brands from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $75.00 target price on Spectrum Brands and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their price target on Spectrum Brands from $106.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Spectrum Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.80.

Spectrum Brands Stock Up 0.8%

Spectrum Brands stock opened at $56.2170 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.98 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $96.62. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.21.

Spectrum Brands (NYSE:SPB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.25 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $699.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $742.13 million. Spectrum Brands had a return on equity of 5.27% and a net margin of 2.56%.Spectrum Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spectrum Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Spectrum Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.15%.

Spectrum Brands Profile

Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc operates as a branded consumer products and home essentials company in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions. It operates through three segments: Home and Personal Care; Global Pet Care; and Home and Garden. The Home and Personal Care segment provides home appliances under the Black & Decker, Russell Hobbs, George Foreman, PowerXL, Emeril Legasse, Copper Chef, Toastmaster, Juiceman, Farberware, and Breadman brands; and personal care products under the Remington brand.