Usio Inc (NASDAQ:USIO) Short Interest Up 1,168.7% in May

Usio Inc (NASDAQ:USIO) saw a large increase in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 72,407 shares, an increase of 1,168.7% from the April 30th total of 5,707 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 119,462 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.6 days. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Usio

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in USIO. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Usio by 246.1% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 28,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 20,161 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Usio by 34.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 59,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 15,334 shares during the period. Citadel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Usio by 103.7% during the 3rd quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 78,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 39,959 shares during the period. Scoggin Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Usio during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $114,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Usio by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 90,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 25,696 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on USIO shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Usio in a research report on Friday, March 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH increased their price objective on shares of Usio from $5.75 to $6.25 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of Usio from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective on shares of Usio in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.13.

Usio Stock Performance

USIO traded up $0.05 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $1.64. 144,943 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,636. Usio has a 1 year low of $1.03 and a 1 year high of $2.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.26 million, a P/E ratio of -20.50 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.33.

Usio (NASDAQ:USIO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.01. Usio had a negative net margin of 2.43% and a negative return on equity of 11.73%. The company had revenue of $25.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.20 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Usio will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Usio

Usio, Inc (NASDAQ: USIO) is a financial technology company that delivers integrated payment, transaction processing, and money services solutions. The company’s platform combines merchant acquiring, multi‐rail payment enablement and business management tools to support merchants, financial institutions and business partners in automating and securing electronic and cash‐based transactions.

Through its subsidiaries, Usio provides a broad range of products and services, including point-of-sale terminals, payment gateway services, automated teller machine (ATM) processing, bill payment, money order issuance, domestic and international money transfer and remittance solutions.