AstroNova, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALOT) Short Interest Up 80.0% in January

AstroNova, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALOT) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,300 shares, a growth of 80.0% from the December 31st total of 8,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 17,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.9 days. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of AstroNova in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AstroNova

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in AstroNova by 23.6% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 68,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $915,000 after buying an additional 13,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AstroNova by 10.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 69,309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $933,000 after acquiring an additional 6,592 shares during the period. Finally, Peapod Lane Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AstroNova in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,536,000. 43.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AstroNova Price Performance

Shares of ALOT traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $11.60. 4,085 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,734. AstroNova has a 12 month low of $11.00 and a 12 month high of $18.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $87.35 million, a PE ratio of 23.20 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.88.

AstroNova (NASDAQ:ALOT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The business services provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter. AstroNova had a return on equity of 5.21% and a net margin of 2.49%.

About AstroNova

AstroNova, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes specialty printers, and data acquisition and analysis systems in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, Central and South America, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Product Identification (PI) and Test & Measurement (T&M).