Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Sells 12,234 Shares of Rocky Brands, Inc. $RCKY

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its stake in Rocky Brands by 44%, owning approximately 0.21% of the company valued at $271,000 after selling 12,234 shares in the first quarter.
• Robert W. Baird upgraded Rocky Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating, increasing the price target from $30 to $40 in recent analyst reports.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $0.55, exceeding expectations and showing a net margin of 4.03% with revenue of $105.65 million for the quarter.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lessened its stake in Rocky Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKY - Free Report) by 44.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,578 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 12,234 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of Rocky Brands worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Rocky Brands by 185.9% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 30,913 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $705,000 after acquiring an additional 20,100 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Rocky Brands during the first quarter valued at about $606,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Rocky Brands by 6.0% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 448,490 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $7,790,000 after purchasing an additional 25,551 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Rocky Brands by 19.8% in the first quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 136,554 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $2,372,000 after purchasing an additional 22,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Rocky Brands by 10.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 235,411 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $4,089,000 after buying an additional 21,420 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on RCKY. Robert W. Baird raised Rocky Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Baird R W raised Rocky Brands from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Strong Buy" and an average target price of $40.00.

Rocky Brands Stock Performance

NASDAQ:RCKY opened at $29.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.17 million, a PE ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 2.41. The stock's fifty day moving average is $27.66 and its 200 day moving average is $22.31. Rocky Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.93 and a fifty-two week high of $32.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 2.76.

Rocky Brands (NASDAQ:RCKY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The textile maker reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.31. Rocky Brands had a net margin of 4.03% and a return on equity of 10.41%. The company had revenue of $105.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.54 million.

Rocky Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Rocky Brands's dividend payout ratio is 25.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director G Courtney Haning sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $155,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $603,942. This represents a 20.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Tracie A. Winbigler sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.95, for a total value of $149,750.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,978 shares of the company's stock, valued at $208,991.10. This represents a 41.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $754,400 in the last ninety days. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Rocky Brands Profile

Rocky Brands, Inc designs, manufactures, and markets footwear and apparel in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through Wholesale, Retail, and Contract Manufacturing segments. The Wholesale segment offers products, which includes sporting goods stores, outdoor retailers, independent shoe retailers, hardware stores, catalogs, mass merchants, uniform stores, farm store chains, specialty safety stores, specialty retailers, and online retailers in retail locations through a range of distribution channels.

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