Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWBI) Short Interest Update

Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWBI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,920,000 shares, an increase of 23.9% from the February 28th total of 1,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 506,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days. Currently, 4.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Smith & Wesson Brands

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Smith & Wesson Brands in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Smith & Wesson Brands in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Smith & Wesson Brands by 238.6% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 3,476 shares in the last quarter. Caption Management LLC bought a new stake in Smith & Wesson Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Smith & Wesson Brands by 45.5% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 5,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 1,867 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Lake Street Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Smith & Wesson Brands from $13.00 to $12.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Craig Hallum lowered shares of Smith & Wesson Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $18.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th.

Smith & Wesson Brands Stock Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ SWBI traded up $0.14 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 120,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 463,979. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $10.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.54. Smith & Wesson Brands has a 1-year low of $9.17 and a 1-year high of $17.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $416.71 million, a PE ratio of 12.14 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 3.97, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Smith & Wesson Brands (NASDAQ:SWBI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02. Smith & Wesson Brands had a net margin of 7.00% and a return on equity of 8.78%. The company had revenue of $115.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.46 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Smith & Wesson Brands will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smith & Wesson Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.49%. Smith & Wesson Brands’s payout ratio is presently 80.00%.

About Smith & Wesson Brands

Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the manufacture, design, and provision of firearms. Its portfolio includes handguns, long guns, handcuffs, suppressor, and other firearm-related products. The firm’s brands are Smith & Wesson, M&P, Thompson/Center Arms, and Gemtech.