Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASO) Short Interest Up 8.7% in October

Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,390,000 shares, a growth of 8.7% from the September 30th total of 5,880,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,360,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days. Approximately 9.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Academy Sports and Outdoors Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ ASO opened at $50.86 on Friday. Academy Sports and Outdoors has a twelve month low of $43.62 and a twelve month high of $75.73. The business’s fifty day moving average is $55.81 and its 200 day moving average is $54.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.34.

Academy Sports and Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 10th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Academy Sports and Outdoors had a return on equity of 25.56% and a net margin of 7.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.01 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Academy Sports and Outdoors will post 6.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Academy Sports and Outdoors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 19th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Academy Sports and Outdoors’s dividend payout ratio is 6.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on ASO shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Academy Sports and Outdoors from $68.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $65.00 to $60.00 in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $77.00 price objective on shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Academy Sports and Outdoors news, Director Jeffrey C. Tweedy sold 1,200 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 8,906 shares in the company, valued at $552,172. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors in the second quarter valued at about $174,054,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Academy Sports and Outdoors by 19.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,969,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,147,000 after acquiring an additional 481,640 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Academy Sports and Outdoors by 4.2% during 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 during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in Academy Sports and Outdoors by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,613,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,903,000 after purchasing an additional 29,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,331,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,915,000 after purchasing an additional 90,651 shares during the period.

About Academy Sports and Outdoors

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.