Karooooo Ltd. (NASDAQ:KARO) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Karooooo Ltd. (NASDAQ:KARO) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,000 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the August 15th total of 22,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 26,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Karooooo Stock Performance

KARO stock opened at $40.40 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $863.75 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.81 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. Karooooo has a 1 year low of $18.59 and a 1 year high of $43.79.

Karooooo (NASDAQ:KARO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. Karooooo had a net margin of 18.70% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The firm had revenue of $58.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.54 million. On average, research analysts predict that Karooooo will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Karooooo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were given a $1.08 dividend. This is a boost from Karooooo’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.69%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. Karooooo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 340.16%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KARO. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Karooooo during the first quarter valued at about $67,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Karooooo by 23.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 17,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 3,356 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Karooooo during the 1st quarter worth about $2,387,000. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Karooooo by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC now owns 175,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,138,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Karooooo by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 198,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,972,000 after acquiring an additional 5,002 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Karooooo from $31.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th.

About Karooooo

Karooooo Ltd. provides mobility software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for connected vehicles in South Africa, rest of Africa, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the United States. The company offers Fleet Telematics, a fleet management SaaS platform that provides real-time insights; LiveVision, which offers pro-active risk management and fleet visibility; MiFleet advanced fleet administration and business intelligence that provides cost management and administration capability services; and Karooooo Logistics, a software application for management of last mile delivery and general operational logistics.