CTS Co. (NYSE:CTS) Short Interest Down 8.4% in January

CTS Co. (NYSE:CTS) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 352,400 shares, a drop of 8.4% from the January 15th total of 384,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 152,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CTS has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CTS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 9th. Scotiabank cut shares of CTS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

CTS Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CTS opened at $46.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.59 and a beta of 0.59. CTS has a one year low of $42.63 and a one year high of $59.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

CTS (NYSE:CTS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The electronics maker reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.06). CTS had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 12.67%. Sell-side analysts expect that CTS will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

CTS Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. CTS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CTS

In other news, CEO Kieran M. O’sullivan sold 31,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.81, for a total transaction of $1,784,692.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 423,665 shares in the company, valued at $23,644,743.65. The trade was a 7.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 59,956 shares of company stock worth $3,331,185 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CTS

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CTS. Quarry LP grew its position in CTS by 572.4% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 659 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CTS by 608.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 737 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 633 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of CTS by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,713 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CTS in the third quarter valued at about $92,000. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in CTS during the 4th quarter worth about $202,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.87% of the company’s stock.

CTS Company Profile

CTS Corporation manufactures and sells sensors, actuators, and connectivity components in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company provides encoders, rotary position sensors, slide potentiometers, industrial and commercial rotary potentiometers. It also provides non-contacting, and contacting pedals; and eBrake pedals.