Short Interest in Ahold NV (OTCMKTS:ADRNY) Expands By 40.4%

Key Points

• Short interest rose 40.4% to 29,286 shares as of March 31 (from 20,864 on March 15), but still represents 0.0% of shares outstanding and a days-to-cover of just 0.2 given average volume.
• Fundamentals and recent results: ADRNY has a $42.87B market cap and a 17.08 P/E; it reported €0.85 EPS (beating €0.78) on €27.35B revenue (slightly below expectations), and carries an average analyst rating of "Buy" despite a couple of recent downgrades.

Ahold NV (OTCMKTS:ADRNY - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 29,286 shares, a growth of 40.4% from the March 15th total of 20,864 shares. Currently, 0.0% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 133,189 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.2 days.

Ahold Stock Performance

ADRNY stock opened at €48.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.48. Ahold has a 12-month low of €32.25 and a 12-month high of €50.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is €47.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is €42.96.

Ahold (OTCMKTS:ADRNY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported €0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of €0.78 by €0.07. The firm had revenue of €27.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of €27.51 billion. Ahold had a return on equity of 16.91% and a net margin of 2.45%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ahold will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ADRNY shares. Wall Street Zen cut Ahold from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Zacks Research cut Ahold from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy".

About Ahold

Ahold Delhaize (often shortened to Ahold) is an international retail grocery group that operates supermarkets, online grocery platforms and related food retail services. The company's operations span both brick-and-mortar stores and digital channels, offering a mix of fresh foods, packaged groceries, household goods and private-label products. Its business model combines local store networks with centralized purchasing, distribution and supply-chain capabilities to serve everyday consumer needs.

The firm was formed through the 2016 merger of Koninklijke Ahold and Delhaize Group, creating a combined network of banners and ecommerce platforms across multiple geographies.

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