Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,000,000 shares, a decrease of 12.4% from the April 30th total of 5,710,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hasbro

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HAS. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hasbro during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hasbro during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Hasbro by 130.0% during the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 476 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Hasbro by 120.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 482 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Hasbro by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 733 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.83% of the company's stock.

Hasbro Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Hasbro stock traded up $0.72 on Thursday, hitting $66.15. The stock had a trading volume of 499,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,904,893. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.85. Hasbro has a one year low of $49.00 and a one year high of $73.46. The stock has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.05, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.54. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $60.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.57.

Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.37. Hasbro had a net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 47.93%. The business had revenue of $887.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Hasbro will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Hasbro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. Hasbro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on HAS. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Hasbro to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Hasbro from $68.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup upgraded shares of Hasbro from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Hasbro from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Hasbro in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.38.

About Hasbro

Hasbro, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a toy and game company in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Australia, China, and Hong Kong. The company operates through Consumer Products; Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming; Entertainment; and Corporate and Other segments.