Koninklijke Philips N.V. (NYSE:PHG) Short Interest Down 13.4% in March

Key Points

• Short interest fell 13.4% in March to 2,429,710 shares as of March 13, representing about 0.3% of the stock and a short-interest ratio of 2.6 days based on average daily volume.
• Several analysts upgraded Philips recently (notably Zacks to strong-buy and Weiss to buy), leaving a MarketBeat average rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Philips beat quarterly estimates with $0.70 EPS vs. $0.50 expected and $5.98B revenue vs. $5.03B expected, and raised its annual dividend to $1.013 per share (ex-dividend May 13, payable June 3).

Koninklijke Philips N.V. (NYSE:PHG - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 2,429,710 shares, a drop of 13.4% from the February 26th total of 2,806,886 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 918,921 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Currently, 0.3% of the company's stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PHG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Koninklijke Philips in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. They set a "sector perform" rating for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Koninklijke Philips from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Zacks Research upgraded Koninklijke Philips from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Koninklijke Philips to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Koninklijke Philips from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Koninklijke Philips has an average rating of "Moderate Buy".

Institutional Trading of Koninklijke Philips

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PHG. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Koninklijke Philips by 1.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 269,829 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,854,000 after acquiring an additional 3,540 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Koninklijke Philips by 60.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 17,010 shares of the technology company's stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 6,429 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Koninklijke Philips by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 846,253 shares of the technology company's stock worth $21,495,000 after purchasing an additional 12,908 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Koninklijke Philips by 125.8% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 104,024 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,642,000 after purchasing an additional 57,952 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Koninklijke Philips by 58.0% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 87,616 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,101,000 after purchasing an additional 32,180 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.67% of the company's stock.

Koninklijke Philips Stock Performance

Shares of Koninklijke Philips stock opened at $26.55 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $29.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Koninklijke Philips has a 12 month low of $21.48 and a 12 month high of $33.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 0.77.

Koninklijke Philips (NYSE:PHG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.20. Koninklijke Philips had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 5.09%.The firm had revenue of $5.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Koninklijke Philips will post 1.63 EPS for the current year.

Koninklijke Philips Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $1.013 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 13th. This is an increase from Koninklijke Philips's previous annual dividend of $0.89. This represents a yield of 318.0%. Koninklijke Philips's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.36%.

Koninklijke Philips Company Profile

Koninklijke Philips N.V. NYSE: PHG, commonly known as Philips, is a Dutch multinational company focused on health technology. Founded in Eindhoven in 1891, the company evolved from a diversified electronics manufacturer into a specialist in healthcare products, systems and services. Philips is legally registered in the Netherlands and operates globally, supplying equipment and solutions to hospitals, clinics, healthcare providers and consumers across Europe, the Americas and Asia.

Philips' principal activities center on medical technologies and personal health.

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