Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Buys Shares of 16,500 Acushnet $GOLF

Key Points

• Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased 16,500 shares of Acushnet, valued at approximately $1.13 million, marking a new investment in the company.
• Acushnet reported $720.48 million in revenue for the last quarter, surpassing analyst estimates, but its earnings per share fell short of expectations at $1.25.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.235, which will yield approximately 1.2% annually, with the dividend payout ratio at 25.13%.

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in shares of Acushnet (NYSE:GOLF - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,133,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. bought a new position in Acushnet during the first quarter worth $352,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Acushnet by 39.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 249,807 shares of the company's stock worth $17,152,000 after buying an additional 70,095 shares during the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Acushnet during the first quarter worth $243,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Acushnet by 2.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 16,560 shares of the company's stock worth $1,137,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in Acushnet by 13.5% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 4,603 shares of the company's stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.12% of the company's stock.

Acushnet Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:GOLF traded down $1.60 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $74.67. 294,009 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 357,700. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $78.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.13. The company has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97 and a beta of 0.90. Acushnet has a 12 month low of $55.31 and a 12 month high of $84.40.

Acushnet (NYSE:GOLF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.33 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $720.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $713.70 million. Acushnet had a return on equity of 28.05% and a net margin of 9.24%.The company's revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.11 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Acushnet will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acushnet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Acushnet's payout ratio is presently 25.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Acushnet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Acushnet from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Acushnet from $63.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Holdings Corp. Misto sold 953,406 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.56, for a total transaction of $62,505,297.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 29,523,653 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,935,570,690.68. The trade was a 3.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Mary Louise Bohn sold 13,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.85, for a total transaction of $1,040,031.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 191,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,122,326.10. This trade represents a 6.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 53.60% of the company's stock.

Acushnet 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.