Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys Shares of 210,246 Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new position in Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 210,246 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,825,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of Newell Brands at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NWL. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of Newell Brands by 408.6% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 237,254 shares of the company's stock worth $2,142,000 after purchasing an additional 190,606 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Newell Brands in the third quarter worth $25,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Newell Brands during the third quarter valued at $813,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Newell Brands by 37.1% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 74,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $675,000 after acquiring an additional 20,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC increased its position in Newell Brands by 53.5% during the third quarter. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC now owns 674,304 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,089,000 after acquiring an additional 234,880 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on NWL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Newell Brands from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Newell Brands from $9.00 to $7.50 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. UBS Group cut Newell Brands from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $8.50 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Newell Brands from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Newell Brands has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $9.13.

Newell Brands Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWL traded up $0.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $7.79. 9,823,179 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,106,179. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $7.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.73. Newell Brands Inc. has a one year low of $6.49 and a one year high of $12.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.95.

Newell Brands (NASDAQ:NWL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Newell Brands had a positive return on equity of 10.24% and a negative net margin of 4.77%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.06) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Newell Brands Inc. will post 0.56 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, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Newell Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -29.47%.

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.