Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASO) Short Interest Update

Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASO) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,280,000 shares, a growth of 27.9% from the October 31st total of 4,910,000 shares. Currently, 9.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Academy Sports and Outdoors Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASO traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $49.25. 875,839 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,435,730. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.60, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.37. Academy Sports and Outdoors has a 1 year low of $44.73 and a 1 year high of $75.73.

Academy Sports and Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 10th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.07. Academy Sports and Outdoors had a return on equity of 25.56% and a net margin of 7.98%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.01 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Academy Sports and Outdoors will post 6.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Academy Sports and Outdoors Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Academy Sports and Outdoors’s payout ratio is currently 6.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ASO. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $77.00 target price on shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Academy Sports and Outdoors from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Evercore ISI cut Academy Sports and Outdoors from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial lowered shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $63.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors from $68.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Academy Sports and Outdoors news, Director Jeffrey C. Tweedy sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total transaction of $74,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,906 shares in the company, valued at $552,172. The trade was a 11.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Academy Sports and Outdoors

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors by 15.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,739,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $626,755,000 after buying an additional 1,422,971 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors during the 2nd quarter worth $174,054,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors by 19.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,969,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $158,147,000 after purchasing an additional 481,640 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,023,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,092,000 after purchasing an additional 50,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,721,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,683,000 after purchasing an additional 69,700 shares in the last quarter.

Academy Sports and Outdoors Company Profile

Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a sporting goods and outdoor recreational retailer in the United States. The company outdoor division comprises camping products, such as coolers and drinkware, and camping accessories and equipment,; fishing products, including marine equipment and fishing rods, reels, and baits and equipment; and hunting products, which includes firearms, ammunition, archery and archery equipment, camouflage apparel, waders, shooting accessories, gun safes, optics, airguns, and hunting equipment.