Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Grows Position in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. $RGR

Key Points

• Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in Sturm, Ruger by 138.2% in Q4 to 93,169 shares (about 0.58% ownership) valued at roughly $3.04 million.
• Other institutions including UBS, Two Sigma, AQR and Russell significantly increased positions, and overall hedge funds/institutions now own about 64% of the company.
• Sturm, Ruger reported Q results with a $0.26 EPS (miss) and 3.6% revenue growth, raised its quarterly dividend to $0.08, and faces mixed analyst sentiment (average rating "Reduce" and consensus target $43).

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR - Free Report) by 138.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 93,169 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 54,052 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. owned 0.58% of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. worth $3,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of RGR. UBS Group AG increased its position in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 31.1% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 514,510 shares of the company's stock worth $22,366,000 after buying an additional 122,111 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 118.7% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 198,936 shares of the company's stock worth $8,648,000 after buying an additional 107,977 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 239.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 100,834 shares of the company's stock worth $3,962,000 after buying an additional 71,128 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 2,446.1% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 61,031 shares of the company's stock worth $2,653,000 after buying an additional 58,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. during the third quarter worth $1,931,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on RGR shares. Zacks Research downgraded Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Lake Street Capital raised their price target on Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:RGR opened at $41.40 on Tuesday. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.33 and a 52 week high of $48.21. The company has a market cap of $659.84 million, a P/E ratio of -147.84 and a beta of 0.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.73.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $151.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $139.24 million. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. had a positive return on equity of 6.93% and a negative net margin of 0.80%.The business's revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a boost from Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.'s payout ratio is currently -114.29%.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Profile

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc, founded in 1949 by William B. Ruger and Alexander McCormick Sturm, is a leading American designer and manufacturer of firearms. Headquartered in Newport, New Hampshire, the company has established a reputation for precision engineering and durable products. Its manufacturing footprint includes facilities in Newport and Mayodan, North Carolina, where it maintains a vertically integrated production model spanning metallurgy, machining, and assembly.

The company's product portfolio encompasses a broad range of small arms, including centerfire and rimfire rifles, shotguns, semi-automatic pistols, revolvers, and accessories.

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