Aristeia Capital L.L.C. Buys Shares of 5,134 Acushnet $GOLF

Key Points

• Aristeia Capital L.L.C. has taken a new position in Acushnet by acquiring 5,134 shares valued at approximately $352,000.
• Acushnet recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.25 EPS, which fell short of analysts' estimates of $1.33, despite a year-over-year revenue increase of 5.4%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.235 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 1.2%.

Aristeia Capital L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Acushnet (NYSE:GOLF - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,134 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acushnet by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,090,666 shares of the company's stock valued at $212,205,000 after buying an additional 269,742 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Acushnet by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,549,266 shares of the company's stock valued at $106,366,000 after buying an additional 42,533 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Acushnet by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,310,965 shares of the company's stock valued at $90,011,000 after buying an additional 82,247 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acushnet by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,104,699 shares of the company's stock valued at $75,849,000 after buying an additional 80,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acushnet by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 948,210 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,104,000 after buying an additional 65,922 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.12% of the company's stock.

Acushnet Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of GOLF traded down $1.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.67. The company had a trading volume of 294,009 shares, compared to its average volume of 357,700. Acushnet has a 1-year low of $55.31 and a 1-year high of $84.40. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

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

Acushnet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GOLF shares. Zacks Research lowered Acushnet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Acushnet from $63.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on Acushnet from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acushnet has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $73.33.

Insider Transactions at Acushnet

In related news, Director Holdings Corp. Misto sold 953,406 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,935,570,690.68. This trade represents a 3.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mary Louise Bohn sold 13,190 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.85, for a total value of $1,040,031.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 191,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,122,326.10. The trade was a 6.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 53.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.