Skillsoft Corp. (NYSE:SKIL) Stock Short Interest Falls 37.4%

Skillsoft Corp. (NYSE:SKIL) saw a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 438,403 shares, a decrease of 37.4% from the September 15th total of 700,067 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 80,309 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.5 days. Approximately 5.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on SKIL. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Skillsoft from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Skillsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Skillsoft has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Insider Buying and Selling at Skillsoft

In other Skillsoft news, CEO Ronald W. Hovsepian purchased 12,777 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $6.52 per share, for a total transaction of $83,306.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 362,746 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,103.92. This represents a 3.65% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jim Frankola bought 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $5.14 per share, with a total value of $128,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 132,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $682,263.04. This trade represents a 23.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 65,918 shares of company stock worth $378,582. Company insiders own 16.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Skillsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Skillsoft during the second quarter worth $98,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Skillsoft by 11.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 61,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Skillsoft by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 15,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 2,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.00% of the company’s stock.

Skillsoft Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of Skillsoft stock traded down $0.10 on Friday, hitting $5.76. The stock had a trading volume of 16,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,108. The business’s 50 day moving average is $6.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.67. Skillsoft has a twelve month low of $3.43 and a twelve month high of $18.45. The stock has a market cap of $52.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 2.41.

Skillsoft (NYSE:SKIL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 9th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.34. Skillsoft had a negative return on equity of 74.19% and a negative net margin of 36.13%. The company had revenue of $98.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.00 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Skillsoft will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Skillsoft

Skillsoft Corporation (NYSE: SKIL) is a provider of digital learning and talent development solutions for businesses, government organizations and other institutions. The company helps organizations build workforce skills through online courses, learning paths, assessments, certifications and professional development content.

Its offerings include the Percipio learning experience platform, which provides access to courses, videos, books and other educational resources across business, technology and leadership topics.