Cushman & Wakefield plc (NYSE:CWK) Short Interest Update

Cushman & Wakefield plc (NYSE:CWK) was the target of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,890,000 shares, a drop of 17.9% from the February 28th total of 13,260,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,760,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.2 days. Currently, 4.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cushman & Wakefield

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CWK. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Cushman & Wakefield in the 4th quarter valued at $1,778,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Cushman & Wakefield during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,498,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Cushman & Wakefield by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,067,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,123,000 after buying an additional 1,084,940 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cushman & Wakefield by 124.4% during the fourth quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 62,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $821,000 after buying an additional 34,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cushman & Wakefield by 44.5% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 69,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $903,000 after acquiring an additional 21,242 shares during the last quarter. 95.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cushman & Wakefield Stock Performance

Shares of CWK traded up $0.20 on Wednesday, reaching $10.36. 1,677,436 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,024,993. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.84 and a beta of 1.40. Cushman & Wakefield has a 12 month low of $9.24 and a 12 month high of $16.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $12.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE:CWK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03. Cushman & Wakefield had a net margin of 1.39% and a return on equity of 12.62%. The company had revenue of $2.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Cushman & Wakefield will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CWK. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Cushman & Wakefield from $13.00 to $11.50 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Cushman & Wakefield from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Cushman & Wakefield from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Cushman & Wakefield from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cushman & Wakefield presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.10.

Cushman & Wakefield Company Profile

Cushman & Wakefield Plc engages in the provision of commercial real estate services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific (APAC). The Americas segment consists of operations located in the United States, Canada and key markets in Latin America.