10 NYSE Stocks Hitting 52-Week Highs Monday

The markets have started the week in a record-setting mood, following stronger than expected employment data out of the U.S and increased political stability overseas. A slew of stocks went through the roof yesterday to hit their new 52-week highs. The 52-week high is an important milestone as it shows stocks that are usually breaking through resistance levels, after which they often have some room to run. Therefore, all of these stocks should be on investors’ radar.

Some notable stocks which hit their 52-week highs at the start of this week include AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE:AFL), Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT), Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE), St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ), Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK), SYSCO Corporation (NYSE:SYY), Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM), and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT). Let’s dig into the details of these stocks’ strong performances and see how hedge funds have been trading some of these stocks.

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AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)’s stock reached a new 52-week high after hitting $73.06 in trading on Monday. It has since pushed it higher today, hitting $73.51 in morning trading and currently sitting at $73.39, up by 1% today. The Georgia-based insurance company will announce its latest quarterly results on July 28.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG) also touched its 52-week high on Monday. The stock has risen by 43.98% since November and outperformed the S&P500 by 44.05%. Despite the retail industry’s struggles, Dollar General continues to show impressive results. The company has successfully upped its customer traffic and average ticket over the last 33 consecutive quarters.

General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)’s shares inched up by 0.56% on July 11 to a new 52-week high of $32.38. On Monday, the company announced a deal with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to bring its Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) Cloud platform Predix to Microsoft’s Azure platform. Out of 766 active funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 64 funds were bullish on General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) at the end of March. Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners owned around 74.24 million shares of the company at that time.

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) soared to a new 52-week high of $256.33 yesterday after the company won a major contract from the Pentagon last week for the next batch of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter stealth jets. Lockheed Martin shares are up by over 17% this year.

We’ll run through six more major NYSE stocks that hit their 52-weeks highs yesterday on the next page.

Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE)’s stock had a big day yesterday, ending the trading day at $31.20, and touching its 52-week high during the session. However, the stock has given back all of yesterday’s gains today, trading down by 1.73% in afternoon trading.

Shares of St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ) jumped to a 52-week high on Monday and have pushed it slightly higher today, touching $80.98. The stock has gained 31.74% so far this year.

Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE:SWK) reached its 52-week high of over $116 yesterday and continues to forge ahead today, pushing past the $117 mark and being poised to close the day up for the fifth-straight trading session. The Connecticut-based tools maker is targeting 10%-to-12% revenue growth and 16% operating margin for the 2015-to-2018 period.

SYSCO Corporation (NYSE:SYY)’s stock reached its 52-week high on Monday, flying past the consensus of price target of $50.00 on its shares, as compiled by Thomson Reuters. The stock has lost just under 1% so far today, but still trades at over $51 per share.

Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM) has quickly rebounded from the dip following its $0.93 dividend payment on June 27 to hit its 52-week high yesterday. Shares have retreated by 0.94% today but are up by over 18% this year.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) shares rose to a 52-week high above $74 on Monday. Walmart’s plan to train its employees and increase wages is churning out positive results. The company has reported seven consecutive quarters of domestic same-store sales gains. With ownership of 55.23 million shares of the company, billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is one of the 54 hedge funds in our database that reported stakes in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) as of the end of March.

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