Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Sells 6,185 Shares of Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership decreased its holdings in Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,239 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,185 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.12% of Snap-on worth $21,468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Snap-on by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 83,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,020,000 after buying an additional 3,863 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in Snap-on by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 48,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,530,000 after acquiring an additional 9,794 shares during the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund bought a new stake in Snap-on in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $543,000. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp increased its position in Snap-on by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in Snap-on by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $606,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. 84.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SNA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Snap-on from $385.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Snap-on in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $346.40.

Snap-on Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE SNA opened at $329.09 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 4.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market cap of $17.25 billion, a PE ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $340.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $333.11. Snap-on Incorporated has a 12-month low of $252.98 and a 12-month high of $373.90.

Snap-on (NYSE:SNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $4.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.78 by $0.04. Snap-on had a net margin of 21.71% and a return on equity of 19.20%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Snap-on Incorporated will post 19.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Snap-on Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $2.14 per share. This represents a $8.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Snap-on’s payout ratio is 43.90%.

Insider Activity at Snap-on

In other Snap-on news, SVP Jesus Arregui sold 6,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.81, for a total value of $2,179,212.31. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,817.17. This represents a 96.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nicholas T. Pinchuk sold 22,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.32, for a total value of $7,611,764.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 793,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $266,221,278.24. The trade was a 2.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,011 shares of company stock valued at $12,116,859. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.