Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASO) Short Interest Update

Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASO - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,560,000 shares, a decline of 20.5% from the March 31st total of 8,250,000 shares. Currently, 10.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,800,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ASO. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Academy Sports and Outdoors from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Academy Sports and Outdoors from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.44.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Academy Sports and Outdoors

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASO. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP lifted its holdings in Academy Sports and Outdoors by 101.5% in the 1st quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP now owns 816 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in Academy Sports and Outdoors by 240.8% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 702 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Academy Sports and Outdoors by 45.6% in the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,156 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Academy Sports and Outdoors by 1,307.1% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 985 shares of the company's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 915 shares during the period. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors by 1,041.7% in the fourth quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the company's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period.

Academy Sports and Outdoors Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ASO traded up $1.20 on Wednesday, hitting $38.88. The company had a trading volume of 1,367,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,626,937. The business has a 50 day moving average of $42.11 and a 200 day moving average of $49.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Academy Sports and Outdoors has a 52-week low of $33.34 and a 52-week high of $64.62. The company has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of 6.38, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.29.

Academy Sports and Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.14. Academy Sports and Outdoors had a net margin of 7.49% and a return on equity of 23.32%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Academy Sports and Outdoors will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Academy Sports and Outdoors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. This is a positive change from Academy Sports and Outdoors's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Academy Sports and Outdoors's payout ratio is 9.01%.

About Academy Sports and Outdoors

Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a sporting goods and outdoor recreational retailer in the United States. The company outdoor division comprises camping products, such as coolers and drinkware, and camping accessories and equipment,; fishing products, including marine equipment and fishing rods, reels, and baits and equipment; and hunting products, which includes firearms, ammunition, archery and archery equipment, camouflage apparel, waders, shooting accessories, gun safes, optics, airguns, and hunting equipment.