Cannae Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CNNE) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest fell sharply: Short interest dropped 17.6% to 3,417,659 shares as of March 31 (about 8.3% of the float) with a days-to-cover ratio of 3.6 based on average daily volume.
• Large earnings miss and weak profitability: Cannae reported Q EPS of $(1.93) vs. $(0.38) expected, posted a negative net margin of 121.15% and negative ROE, and analysts project a fiscal-year EPS of about -3.14.
• High institutional ownership and recent hedge-fund buying, but mixed analyst views: Institutions own 88.1% of the stock with several funds boosting stakes, while the consensus rating is "Hold" (average target $16) after RBC cut its price target to $16 and Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a sell.

Cannae Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CNNE - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,417,659 shares, a drop of 17.6% from the March 15th total of 4,145,919 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 936,649 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days. Currently, 8.3% of the company's stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cannae

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Carronade Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Cannae by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Carronade Capital Management LP now owns 3,262,648 shares of the company's stock worth $51,321,000 after purchasing an additional 73,621 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Cannae by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 2,105,864 shares of the company's stock worth $43,907,000 after purchasing an additional 615,616 shares in the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cannae by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,821,685 shares of the company's stock worth $28,655,000 after purchasing an additional 142,025 shares in the last quarter. Saba Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Cannae by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Saba Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,714,994 shares of the company's stock worth $26,977,000 after purchasing an additional 323,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its position in shares of Cannae by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 950,378 shares of the company's stock worth $14,949,000 after purchasing an additional 144,570 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Cannae from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Cannae in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cannae currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $16.00.

Cannae Stock Performance

CNNE traded down $0.03 during trading on Thursday, hitting $13.01. The stock had a trading volume of 428,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 764,569. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $602.57 million, a P/E ratio of -1.46 and a beta of 1.09. The company's 50-day moving average price is $12.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.07. Cannae has a twelve month low of $10.46 and a twelve month high of $21.96.

Cannae (NYSE:CNNE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The company reported ($1.93) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($1.55). The firm had revenue of $103.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.70 million. Cannae had a negative net margin of 121.15% and a negative return on equity of 31.78%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.74) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cannae will post -3.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cannae Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. Cannae's payout ratio is currently -6.73%.

About Cannae

Cannae Holdings, Inc NYSE: CNNE is a publicly traded diversified holding company that focuses on partnering with and investing in businesses across a range of industry sectors. The company seeks to identify attractive opportunities in both private and public markets, leveraging its capital resources and management expertise to support operational growth and value creation. Cannae's investment strategy emphasizes companies in data and analytics, marketing services, healthcare technology, and payment processing.

Through its portfolio, Cannae holds controlling or significant minority stakes in companies that provide critical software, data and services to corporate clients.

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