Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE) Short Interest Down 8.7% in March

Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 36,600 shares, a decrease of 8.7% from the March 15th total of 40,100 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 19,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Lakeland Industries

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Industries by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 43,530 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $807,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Industries by 1.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 68,473 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $1,314,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Industries by 64.2% in the first quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,347 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Industries by 2.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 38,910 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Lakeland Industries by 4.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,161 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. 71.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on LAKE. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lakeland Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TheStreet upgraded shares of Lakeland Industries from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st.

Lakeland Industries Stock Performance

LAKE traded down $1.05 during trading on Monday, hitting $15.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 74,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,069. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 5.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Lakeland Industries has a one year low of $10.60 and a one year high of $19.66. The firm has a market cap of $116.15 million, a PE ratio of 23.44 and a beta of 0.47. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $17.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.41.

Lakeland Industries (NASDAQ:LAKE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 10th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $31.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.50 million. Lakeland Industries had a return on equity of 6.63% and a net margin of 4.33%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lakeland Industries will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 14th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Lakeland Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.90%.

Lakeland Industries Company Profile

Lakeland Industries, Inc manufactures and sells industrial protective clothing and accessories for the industrial and public protective clothing market worldwide. It offers firefighting and heat protective apparel to protect against fire; high-end chemical protective suits to provide protection from highly concentrated, toxic and/or lethal chemicals, and biological toxins; and limited use/disposable protective clothing, such as coveralls, laboratory coats, shirts, pants, hoods, aprons, sleeves, arm guards, caps, and smocks.

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