ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Position in Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,791 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 73 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Snap-on were worth $608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Snap-on by 25.2% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 13,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,788 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Snap-on by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,056,000 after buying an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Snap-on by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 7,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Snap-on in the second quarter valued at approximately $445,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Snap-on by 97.8% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,637,000 after acquiring an additional 4,989 shares during the period. 84.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP June C. Lemerand sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.86, for a total value of $1,270,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $830,586.54. The trade was a 60.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Aldo John Pagliari sold 6,909 shares of Snap-on stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $347.62, for a total transaction of $2,401,706.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 100,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,994,210.16. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 44,929 shares of company stock worth $15,645,074 over the last three months. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Snap-on Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of SNA opened at $348.17 on Tuesday. Snap-on Incorporated has a 1-year low of $252.98 and a 1-year high of $373.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 4.18 and a quick ratio of 3.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $351.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $311.39. The stock has a market cap of $18.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.00.

Snap-on Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $2.14 dividend. This represents a $8.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. This is a boost from Snap-on’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. Snap-on’s payout ratio is 44.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SNA shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Snap-on from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Snap-on from $290.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barrington Research increased their target price on shares of Snap-on from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Snap-on from $336.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Snap-on from $324.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Snap-on currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $345.40.

Snap-on Company Profile

Snap-on Incorporated manufactures and markets tools, equipment, diagnostics, and repair information and systems solutions for professional users worldwide. It operates through Commercial & Industrial Group, Snap-on Tools Group, Repair Systems & Information Group, and Financial Services segments.