Rocky Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKY) Short Interest Up 22.6% in January

Rocky Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKY) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 96,600 shares, an increase of 22.6% from the January 15th total of 78,800 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 43,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Rocky Brands Stock Performance

Rocky Brands stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $23.81. 16,060 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,575. Rocky Brands has a 52 week low of $19.65 and a 52 week high of $40.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 2.79. The firm has a market cap of $177.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38 and a beta of 2.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.08.

Rocky Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Rocky Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.83%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rocky Brands

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Rocky Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,117,353 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $35,599,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Rocky Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $9,643,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Rocky Brands by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 213,991 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $4,879,000 after acquiring an additional 25,806 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Rocky Brands by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,315 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $5,364,000 after acquiring an additional 7,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Rocky Brands by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,249 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $4,277,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on RCKY shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Rocky Brands from $32.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut Rocky Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th.

About Rocky Brands

Rocky Brands, Inc designs, manufactures, and markets footwear and apparel in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through Wholesale, Retail, and Contract Manufacturing segments. The Wholesale segment offers products, which includes sporting goods stores, outdoor retailers, independent shoe retailers, hardware stores, catalogs, mass merchants, uniform stores, farm store chains, specialty safety stores, specialty retailers, and online retailers in retail locations through a range of distribution channels.