The Gorman-Rupp Company (NYSE:GRC) Short Interest Up 115.1% in January

The Gorman-Rupp Company (NYSE:GRC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 142,200 shares, a growth of 115.1% from the January 15th total of 66,100 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 65,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Gorman-Rupp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gorman-Rupp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GRC. Mechanics Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Gorman-Rupp by 105.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 1,012,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,450,000 after purchasing an additional 520,361 shares in the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Gorman-Rupp by 218.8% during the 3rd quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 127,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,966,000 after purchasing an additional 87,500 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel bought a new position in shares of Gorman-Rupp during the 4th quarter worth about $2,083,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Gorman-Rupp by 57.3% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 115,536 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,381,000 after purchasing an additional 42,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Gorman-Rupp in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,100,000. Institutional investors own 59.26% of the company’s stock.

Gorman-Rupp Stock Performance

Shares of Gorman-Rupp stock opened at $38.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.86. Gorman-Rupp has a 1-year low of $30.47 and a 1-year high of $43.79. The company has a market cap of $998.84 million, a P/E ratio of 26.26, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.97.

Gorman-Rupp (NYSE:GRC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.03). Gorman-Rupp had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 5.80%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gorman-Rupp will post 1.78 EPS for the current year.

Gorman-Rupp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.185 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Gorman-Rupp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.03%.

About Gorman-Rupp

The Gorman-Rupp Company designs, manufactures, and sells pumps and pump systems in the United States and internationally. The company’s products include self-priming centrifugal, standard centrifugal, magnetic drive centrifugal, axial and mixed flow, vertical turbine line shaft, submersible, high-pressure booster, rotary gear, diaphragm, bellows, and oscillating pumps.