Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL) Short Interest Down 13.5% in May

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,010,000 shares, a decrease of 13.5% from the April 30th total of 3,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 13.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CBRL. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $42.00 target price (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cracker Barrel Old Country Store news, major shareholder Gmt Capital Corp acquired 53,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $44.60 per share, for a total transaction of $2,363,800.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 2,833,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,383,020. The trade was a 1.91% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders purchased a total of 385,307 shares of company stock worth $15,679,910 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store by 685.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 558 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store during the first quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store by 360.2% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,178 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.01% of the company's stock.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CBRL traded up $1.75 on Friday, reaching $55.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 832,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 814,264. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.60, a PEG ratio of 8.36 and a beta of 1.45. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has a 52-week low of $33.86 and a 52-week high of $65.43. The stock's 50-day moving average is $47.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.24.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (NASDAQ:CBRL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $821.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $824.65 million. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store had a net margin of 1.15% and a return on equity of 18.61%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cracker Barrel Old Country Store will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 13th. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store's payout ratio is 38.76%.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Company Profile

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc develops and operates the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store concept in the United States. Its Cracker Barrel stores consist of restaurants with a gift shop. The company's restaurants serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, as well as dine-in, pick-up, and delivery services.