Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) Short Interest Up 21.4% in March

Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,500,000 shares, a growth of 21.4% from the February 29th total of 4,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,530,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days. Approximately 9.4% of the company's stock are sold short.

Crocs Price Performance

Crocs stock traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $143.80. The stock had a trading volume of 800,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,163,438. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 2.00. Crocs has a 1-year low of $74.00 and a 1-year high of $151.32. The stock's fifty day moving average is $118.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.77.

Crocs (NASDAQ:CROX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The textile maker reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $960.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $958.39 million. Crocs had a return on equity of 61.97% and a net margin of 20.00%. Crocs's revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Crocs will post 12.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Crocs

In related news, Director Ian Bickley sold 16,785 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.05, for a total value of $2,015,039.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,815 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,819,390.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Crocs news, Director Ian Bickley sold 16,785 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.05, for a total value of $2,015,039.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,815 shares in the company, valued at $3,819,390.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John B. Replogle acquired 1,972 shares of Crocs stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $126.75 per share, with a total value of $249,951.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,153 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,642.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 39,867 shares of company stock valued at $4,786,276 over the last three months. 2.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Crocs

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. WIT Partners Advisory Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Crocs during the fourth quarter valued at $266,431,000. Coatue Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crocs by 836.7% during the fourth quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 1,029,765 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $96,190,000 after acquiring an additional 919,835 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Crocs during the fourth quarter valued at $72,211,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Crocs by 4,533.9% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 755,094 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $84,903,000 after acquiring an additional 738,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Crocs by 97.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,300,768 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $141,042,000 after acquiring an additional 643,578 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CROX shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Crocs from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. B. Riley upped their price target on Crocs from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Bank of America upped their price target on Crocs from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Raymond James upped their price target on Crocs from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Crocs from $96.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $144.33.

Crocs Company Profile

Crocs, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells casual lifestyle footwear and accessories for men, women, and children under Crocs and HEYDUDE Brand in the United States and internationally. The company offers various footwear products, including clogs, sandals, slides, flips, wedges, platforms, socks, boots, charms, flip flops, sneakers, and slippers.

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