Blue Trust Inc. Increases Stock Position in Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. $SPB

Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SPB) by 44.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,060 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 328 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Spectrum Brands were worth $56,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Spectrum Brands by 7.5% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,319,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,405,000 after purchasing an additional 92,418 shares in the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp lifted its holdings in Spectrum Brands by 33.1% during the first quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 750,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,665,000 after purchasing an additional 186,729 shares in the last quarter. Callodine Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Spectrum Brands by 38.4% during the first quarter. Callodine Capital Management LP now owns 730,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,232,000 after purchasing an additional 202,500 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Spectrum Brands by 20.0% during the first quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 691,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,441,000 after purchasing an additional 115,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Spectrum Brands by 2.7% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 662,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,400,000 after purchasing an additional 17,445 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Spectrum Brands from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spectrum Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Spectrum Brands from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Spectrum Brands and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Spectrum Brands in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.80.

Spectrum Brands Price Performance

Spectrum Brands stock opened at $53.61 on Friday. Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.99 and a 12-month high of $96.62. The stock has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $54.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.86. 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 (NYSE:SPB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.25 by ($0.01). Spectrum Brands had a return on equity of 5.27% and a net margin of 2.56%.The firm had revenue of $699.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $742.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. Spectrum Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Spectrum Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 26th. Spectrum Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.15%.

About Spectrum Brands

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.