APi Group Co. (NYSE:APG) Short Interest Up 15.5% in December

APi Group Co. (NYSE:APG) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,850,000 shares, a growth of 15.5% from the November 30th total of 4,200,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,710,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 3.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other APi Group news, Director Ian G. H. Ashken sold 53,868 shares of APi Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.87, for a total value of $1,986,113.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,478,779 shares in the company, valued at $202,002,581.73. The trade was a 0.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director James E. Lillie sold 11,568 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total transaction of $427,784.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,134,635 shares in the company, valued at $41,958,802.30. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On APi Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of APG. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in APi Group by 19.2% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,391,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,351,013 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in APi Group by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,901,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,881,000 after buying an additional 324,544 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in APi Group by 2.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,730,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,217,000 after buying an additional 106,119 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in APi Group by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,723,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,941,000 after buying an additional 132,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in shares of APi Group by 218.9% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,884,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,979,931 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.62% of the company’s stock.

APi Group Stock Performance

Shares of APi Group stock opened at $35.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.88 billion, a PE ratio of -18.26 and a beta of 1.55. APi Group has a 1 year low of $30.26 and a 1 year high of $40.89. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.51.

APi Group (NYSE:APG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. APi Group had a return on equity of 33.89% and a net margin of 3.01%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. APi Group’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that APi Group will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

APG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on APi Group from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of APi Group from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of APi Group in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of APi Group in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of APi Group from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, APi Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.43.

APi Group Company Profile

APi Group Corporation provides safety and specialty services worldwide. It operates through Safety Services and Specialty Services segments. The Safety Services segment offers solutions focusing on end-to-end integrated occupancy systems, such as fire protection services; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning solutions; and entry systems, which include the design, installation, inspection, and service of these integrated systems.