Short Interest in Edgewell Personal Care Co (NYSE:EPC) Increases By 8.4%

Edgewell Personal Care Co (NYSE:EPC) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,200,000 shares, a growth of 8.4% from the November 30th total of 2,030,000 shares. Currently, 4.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 419,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on EPC shares. Barclays cut their price objective on Edgewell Personal Care from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Edgewell Personal Care from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Edgewell Personal Care from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Edgewell Personal Care currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.40.

Institutional Trading of Edgewell Personal Care

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EPC. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Edgewell Personal Care by 14.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Edgewell Personal Care by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new position in shares of Edgewell Personal Care in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Edgewell Personal Care by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Edgewell Personal Care by 12.2% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 11,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.91% of the company’s stock.

Edgewell Personal Care Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:EPC opened at $33.60 on Thursday. Edgewell Personal Care has a fifty-two week low of $33.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $35.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14 and a beta of 0.88.

Edgewell Personal Care (NYSE:EPC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.05. Edgewell Personal Care had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 9.78%. The firm had revenue of $517.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $535.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Edgewell Personal Care will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Edgewell Personal Care Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Edgewell Personal Care’s payout ratio is 30.61%.

Edgewell Personal Care Company Profile

Edgewell Personal Care Company is a manufacturer and marketer of personal care products in the wet shave, sun and skin care, feminine care and infant care categories. As of September 30, 2016, the Company had a portfolio of over 25 brands. It manages its business in four segments: Wet Shave, Sun and Skin Care, Feminine Care and All Other.