GMS Inc. (NYSE:GMS) Short Interest Up 20.5% in March

GMS Inc. (NYSE:GMS) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, a growth of 20.5% from the February 28th total of 1,660,000 shares. Approximately 5.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 475,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on GMS. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of GMS from $97.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group set a $80.00 price objective on shares of GMS in a report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on GMS from $80.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on GMS from $82.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of GMS from $110.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.50.

Insider Activity at GMS

In related news, Director Theron I. Gilliam sold 12,474 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.46, for a total value of $916,340.04. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,507 shares in the company, valued at $2,314,504.22. This trade represents a 28.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of GMS

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in GMS by 1,710.5% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 344 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of GMS in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in GMS by 71.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 685 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in GMS by 246.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 991 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of GMS during the 4th quarter valued at about $193,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.28% of the company’s stock.

GMS Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of GMS stock traded down $3.70 during trading on Thursday, reaching $71.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 214,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 409,058. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $78.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.12. The company has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 1.73. GMS has a one year low of $65.88 and a one year high of $105.54.

GMS (NYSE:GMS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.47). GMS had a return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 3.92%. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Analysts anticipate that GMS will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

GMS Company Profile

GMS Inc distributes wallboard, ceilings, steel framing and complementary construction products in the United States and Canada. The company offers ceilings products, including suspended mineral fibers, soft fibers, and metal ceiling systems primarily used in offices, hotels, hospitals, retail facilities, schools, and various other commercial and institutional buildings.