Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA) by 5.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 280,593 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,314 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.53% of Snap-on worth $81,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SNA. State Street Corp grew its position in Snap-on by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,115,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $613,019,000 after buying an additional 10,645 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Snap-on by 3.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,728,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,848,000 after buying an additional 56,266 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Snap-on by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,613,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,199,000 after buying an additional 69,590 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Snap-on by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 942,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,424,000 after buying an additional 13,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Snap-on by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 907,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,957,000 after acquiring an additional 78,184 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Aldo John Pagliari sold 6,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $34,994,210.16. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Richard Thomas Miller sold 1,750 shares of Snap-on stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.00, for a total value of $577,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,218 shares in the company, valued at $1,061,940. The trade was a 35.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,723 shares of company stock valued at $18,029,670 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Snap-on Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Snap-on stock opened at $343.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.04 billion, a PE ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 4.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Snap-on Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $252.98 and a fifty-two week high of $373.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $346.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $299.63.

Snap-on (NYSE:SNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $4.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.58 by $0.12. Snap-on had a return on equity of 19.44% and a net margin of 22.13%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Analysts anticipate that Snap-on Incorporated will post 19.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Snap-on Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $2.14 per share. This is a positive change from Snap-on’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $8.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. Snap-on’s dividend payout ratio is 44.06%.

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.