Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,240,000 shares, a growth of 6.7% from the August 31st total of 2,100,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 729,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 9.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Helen of Troy

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HELE. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Helen of Troy by 374.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Helen of Troy during the second quarter worth about $28,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Helen of Troy during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Helen of Troy by 153.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Helen of Troy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $201,000.

Helen of Troy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HELE opened at $61.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.56. Helen of Troy has a 12 month low of $48.05 and a 12 month high of $127.83.

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 9th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.60). The business had revenue of $416.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.85 million. Helen of Troy had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 7.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 EPS. Analysts expect that Helen of Troy will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Helen of Troy announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 5th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 39.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HELE. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Helen of Troy from $137.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Helen of Troy from $100.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. DA Davidson lowered Helen of Troy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $139.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Helen of Troy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th.

Helen of Troy Company Profile

Helen of Troy Limited provides various consumer products in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in two segments: Home & Outdoor and Beauty & Wellness. The Home & Outdoor segment offers food storage containers, kitchen utensils for cooking and preparing salads, fruits, vegetables and meats, graters, slicers and choppers, baking essentials, kitchen organization, bath, cleaning, infant and toddler products, and coffee preparation tools and electronics; and insulated beverageware, including bottles, travel tumblers, drinkware, mugs, food and lunch containers, insulated totes, soft coolers, outdoor kitchenware, and accessories.