Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ:URBN) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,157,886 shares, an increase of 30.6% from the February 28th total of 11,610,490 shares. Approximately 18.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,765,218 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days.
A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of URBN. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Urban Outfitters during the fourth quarter valued at $69,571,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Urban Outfitters by 983.2% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,560,815 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $88,397,000 after buying an additional 2,324,398 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Urban Outfitters during the fourth quarter valued at $27,485,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Urban Outfitters by 93.2% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 1,526,195 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $43,465,000 after buying an additional 736,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Urban Outfitters by 3,162.4% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 631,765 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $21,810,000 after buying an additional 612,400 shares during the last quarter. 78.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) traded down 1.06% during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $23.24. 1,908,375 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 0.66. Urban Outfitters has a 1-year low of $21.83 and a 1-year high of $40.80. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $23.52 and its 200 day moving average is $29.09.
Several brokerages have issued reports on URBN. TheStreet lowered Urban Outfitters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 23rd. FBR & Co set a $28.00 price target on shares of Urban Outfitters and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Urban Outfitters from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 24th. Wunderlich reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $26.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Urban Outfitters in a research note on Monday, March 6th. Finally, William Blair downgraded shares of Urban Outfitters from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.15.
About Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters, Inc is a lifestyle specialty retail company. The Company operates through two segments: Retail and Wholesale. The Company’s Retail segment consists of its Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain and Bhldn brands, whose merchandise is sold to its customers through retail stores, Websites, mobile applications, catalogs and customer contact centers.
