Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ:FARM) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ:FARM) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 52,800 shares, a decrease of 8.3% from the August 15th total of 57,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 45,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.2 days. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Farmer Bros. Stock Down 3.2 %

NASDAQ:FARM opened at $2.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $45.29 million, a PE ratio of -0.93 and a beta of 1.79. Farmer Bros. has a 52-week low of $2.10 and a 52-week high of $4.04. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.96.

Farmer Bros. (NASDAQ:FARM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22). The business had revenue of $84.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.30 million. Farmer Bros. had a negative return on equity of 58.82% and a negative net margin of 13.46%. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.84) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Farmer Bros. will post -0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FARM. Sanders Morris Harris LLC bought a new position in shares of Farmer Bros. during the first quarter worth about $250,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Farmer Bros. by 8.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 824,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,944,000 after buying an additional 65,277 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Farmer Bros. by 4.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 367,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $986,000 after buying an additional 17,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Farmer Bros. by 1.4% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 559,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. 64.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on FARM. Roth Mkm cut their target price on Farmer Bros. from $6.00 to $4.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Craig Hallum started coverage on Farmer Bros. in a research report on Monday, June 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $6.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Farmer Bros. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday.

Farmer Bros. Company Profile

Farmer Bros. Co engages in the roasting, wholesale, equipment servicing, and distribution of coffee, tea, and other allied products in the United States. The company offers roast and ground coffee; frozen liquid coffee; flavoured and unflavoured iced and hot teas; culinary products, including spices, pancake and biscuit mixes, gravy and sauce mixes, soup bases, dressings, and syrups and sauces, as well as coffee filters, cups, sugar, and creamers; and other beverages comprising cappuccino, cocoa, granitas, and other blender-based beverages and concentrated and ready-to-drink cold brew and iced coffee.