Short Interest in Kimball Electronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:KE) Drops By 19.5%

Kimball Electronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:KE) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 389,500 shares, a decrease of 19.5% from the February 28th total of 484,100 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 135,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Kimball Electronics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Kimball Electronics by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,945,556 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $36,440,000 after purchasing an additional 92,166 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Kimball Electronics by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 577,229 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $10,686,000 after buying an additional 4,044 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Kimball Electronics by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 565,069 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $10,459,000 after purchasing an additional 7,864 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kimball Electronics by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 489,896 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $9,176,000 after buying an additional 56,175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Kimball Electronics by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC now owns 357,300 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $6,692,000 after purchasing an additional 44,840 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Lake Street Capital reduced their target price on Kimball Electronics from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Kimball Electronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.75.

Kimball Electronics Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Kimball Electronics stock opened at $16.55 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.28, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.25. Kimball Electronics has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $24.45. The company has a market cap of $406.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.72 and a beta of 1.21.

Kimball Electronics (NASDAQ:KE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The electronics maker reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.05. Kimball Electronics had a return on equity of 5.48% and a net margin of 0.51%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Kimball Electronics will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

About Kimball Electronics

Kimball Electronics, Inc engages in the provision of electronics manufacturing, engineering, and supply chain support services to customers in the automotive, medical, and industrial end markets. The Company also offers contract manufacturing services, including engineering and supply chain support for the production of electronic assemblies and other products, including non-electronic components, medical devices, medical disposables, and precision molded plastics, as well as automation, test, and inspection equipment primarily used in automotive, medical, and industrial applications.