South Dakota Investment Council Lowers Stock Holdings in Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS)

South Dakota Investment Council reduced its stake in Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 84,841 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,847 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Hasbro were worth $4,743,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hasbro by 28,552.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,789,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,967,000 after buying an additional 2,779,877 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hasbro by 9,806.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,320,000 after buying an additional 989,906 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hasbro in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,032,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Hasbro by 207.6% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 547,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,629,000 after buying an additional 369,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hasbro by 882.9% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 400,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,410,000 after buying an additional 360,039 shares in the last quarter. 91.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HAS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $84.00 price target (down from $88.00) on shares of Hasbro in a research note on Friday. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Hasbro from $68.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Hasbro from $82.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.00.

Hasbro Stock Performance

Shares of HAS stock opened at $67.56 on Monday. Hasbro, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.63 and a 1 year high of $73.46. The stock has a market cap of $9.42 billion, a PE ratio of 24.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $58.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.85, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.10. Hasbro had a return on equity of 47.93% and a net margin of 9.32%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hasbro, Inc. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hasbro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Hasbro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.82%.

Insider Transactions at Hasbro

In other news, EVP Matthew Edward Austin sold 1,718 shares of Hasbro stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.06, for a total value of $111,773.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,396,029.68. The trade was a 4.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Hasbro Profile

Hasbro, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a toy and game company in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Australia, China, and Hong Kong. The company operates through Consumer Products; Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming; Entertainment; and Corporate and Other segments.