Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,340,000 shares, a decline of 47.9% from the September 15th total of 2,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on NUS shares. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Nu Skin Enterprises from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Nu Skin Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Nu Skin Enterprises from $14.00 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.50.

Institutional Trading of Nu Skin Enterprises

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 57.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 42,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 15,683 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 66.3% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 60,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 24,188 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 19,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 100.5% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 534,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,634,000 after buying an additional 267,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $106,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.84% of the company’s stock.

Nu Skin Enterprises Price Performance

NUS stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $6.27. The stock had a trading volume of 893,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 854,576. Nu Skin Enterprises has a twelve month low of $5.99 and a twelve month high of $20.75. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $8.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.12 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.41 million, a P/E ratio of -104.50 and a beta of 1.12.

Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE:NUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $439.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $431.87 million. Nu Skin Enterprises had a positive return on equity of 7.80% and a negative net margin of 8.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Nu Skin Enterprises will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nu Skin Enterprises Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. Nu Skin Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is presently -400.00%.

About Nu Skin Enterprises

Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development and distribution of various beauty and wellness products worldwide. It offers skin care devices, cosmetics, and other personal care products, including ageLOC LumiSpa and ageLOC LumiSpa iO; and nutricentials skin care products.