Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) was the target of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,470,000 shares, a growth of 40.6% from the January 31st total of 3,890,000 shares. Currently, 19.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 418,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 13.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Acushnet by 100.6% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Acushnet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 16,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in shares of Acushnet by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $953,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Acushnet by 39.6% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Semanteon Capital Management LP boosted its position in Acushnet by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP now owns 9,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Acushnet from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Compass Point upgraded Acushnet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $77.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded Acushnet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Acushnet from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $69.00 to $64.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Acushnet from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.80.

Acushnet Stock Performance

NYSE GOLF traded down $0.06 on Wednesday, reaching $64.79. 129,196 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 336,978. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 2.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $68.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.58. Acushnet has a fifty-two week low of $58.54 and a fifty-two week high of $76.65. The firm has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.04 and a beta of 0.79.

Acushnet (NYSE:GOLF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.31. Acushnet had a net margin of 7.78% and a return on equity of 21.45%. The business had revenue of $445.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $454.83 million. Equities research analysts predict that Acushnet will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acushnet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Acushnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Acushnet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.23%.

About Acushnet

Acushnet Holdings Corp. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes golf products in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, Korea, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Titleist Golf Balls, Titleist Golf Clubs, Titleist Golf Gear, and FootJoy Golf Wear.