New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 105,178 Shares of Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL - Free Report) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,207,966 shares of the company's stock after selling 105,178 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.29% of Newell Brands worth $7,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Newell Brands in the fourth quarter worth $9,877,000. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Newell Brands during the 4th quarter worth $434,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Newell Brands during the 4th quarter worth $37,174,000. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Newell Brands during the 4th quarter worth $892,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP lifted its position in Newell Brands by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 1,463,392 shares of the company's stock worth $14,575,000 after acquiring an additional 671,884 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on NWL shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Newell Brands from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Newell Brands from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $6.00 target price (up previously from $5.00) on shares of Newell Brands in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Newell Brands from $5.00 to $5.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Newell Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $6.00 to $7.00 in a report on Friday, June 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Newell Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $7.83.

Newell Brands Price Performance

Shares of NWL traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $6.37. 7,045,575 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,996,421. Newell Brands Inc. has a one year low of $4.22 and a one year high of $11.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $5.57 and a 200 day moving average of $6.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.80 and a beta of 0.96.

Newell Brands (NASDAQ:NWL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.06. Newell Brands had a negative net margin of 3.26% and a positive return on equity of 9.95%. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.54 billion. Newell Brands's revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Newell Brands Inc. will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Newell Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. Newell Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently -47.46%.

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.