Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,470,000 shares, an increase of 40.6% from the January 31st total of 3,890,000 shares. Approximately 19.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 418,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 13.1 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acushnet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Acushnet by 100.6% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 351 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Acushnet during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Acushnet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Acushnet during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Acushnet by 39.6% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 53.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOLF shares. Compass Point upgraded Acushnet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $77.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Acushnet from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Acushnet from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $64.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on Acushnet from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Acushnet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Acushnet has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.80.

Acushnet Stock Performance

NYSE:GOLF traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $64.82. The stock had a trading volume of 547,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 337,798. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 2.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.59. Acushnet has a 12-month low of $58.54 and a 12-month high of $76.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05 and a beta of 0.86.

Acushnet (NYSE:GOLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.31. The company had revenue of $445.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $454.83 million. Acushnet had a return on equity of 21.45% and a net margin of 7.78%. On average, research analysts forecast that Acushnet will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acushnet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. This is a positive change from Acushnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Acushnet’s payout ratio is 25.83%.

Acushnet Company Profile

Acushnet Holdings Corp. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes golf products in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, Korea, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Titleist Golf Balls, Titleist Golf Clubs, Titleist Golf Gear, and FootJoy Golf Wear.