SunOpta, Inc. (STKL) Short Interest Up 83.7% in March

SunOpta, Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) (TSE:SOY) saw a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,428,567 shares, an increase of 83.7% from the February 28th total of 1,866,840 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,434,439 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 4.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Shares of SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) traded down 0.78% during trading on Friday, hitting $6.40. The stock had a trading volume of 372,784 shares. The stock’s market cap is $550.23 million. SunOpta has a one year low of $3.16 and a one year high of $7.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $6.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.03.

SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 1st. The company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.13. SunOpta had a positive return on equity of 3.75% and a negative net margin of 3.50%. The firm earned $297.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $334.99 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that SunOpta will post $0.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

STKL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of SunOpta from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 9th. Wunderlich downgraded shares of SunOpta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $8.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. DA Davidson downgraded shares of SunOpta from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 6th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of SunOpta from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.83.

In other SunOpta news, CEO David Colo bought 74,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $6.85 per share, for a total transaction of $506,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 74,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $506,900. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Oaktree Huntington Investment purchased 490,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $6.90 per share, with a total value of $3,381,545.10. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STKL. Ardsley Advisory Partners purchased a new stake in SunOpta during the third quarter worth $25,628,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in SunOpta by 74.6% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 3,047,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,486,000 after buying an additional 1,302,092 shares during the period. Empyrean Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in SunOpta by 54.8% in the third quarter. Empyrean Capital Partners LP now owns 1,548,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,929,000 after buying an additional 548,000 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in SunOpta by 16.9% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,678,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,969,000 after buying an additional 531,783 shares during the period. Finally, Heartland Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in SunOpta during the third quarter worth $2,824,000. 71.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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About SunOpta

SunOpta Inc operates businesses focused on a healthy products portfolio. The Company operates through two segments: Global Ingredients and Consumer Products. The Global Ingredients segment aggregates its North American and international raw material sourcing and supply operating segments focused on the procurement, processing and sale of specialty and organic grains, seeds, fruits, grain- and cocoa-based ingredients, and other commodities, which are used in applications serving the natural and organic food industry.