Short Interest in Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK) Declines By 14.8%

Key Points

• Short interest fell 14.8% in March to 1,361,329 shares, equal to 5.7% of shares short and a short-interest ratio of 5.9 days based on average volume.
• Dividend increased to $0.36 quarterly ($1.44 annualized) for an 8.1% yield, though the dividend payout ratio is a high 111.63%, raising sustainability concerns.
• Earnings and analyst view showed a quarterly EPS of $0.67 vs. $1.05 expected and revenue down 12% to $220.22M; the consensus rating is "Hold" with an average target of $25 and the stock trading around $17.70 (market cap ~$629M).

Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 1,361,329 shares, a decrease of 14.8% from the March 15th total of 1,596,900 shares. Currently, 5.7% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 229,412 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on SSTK shares. Zacks Research upgraded Shutterstock from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Shutterstock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $25.00.

Shutterstock Trading Down 1.3%

Shutterstock stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $17.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 177,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 302,005. The firm has a market capitalization of $629.06 million, a PE ratio of 13.72 and a beta of 1.18. Shutterstock has a 1 year low of $14.36 and a 1 year high of $29.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock's fifty day moving average is $16.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.34.

Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The business services provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.38). Shutterstock had a return on equity of 16.13% and a net margin of 4.60%.The firm had revenue of $220.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $252.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Shutterstock will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

Shutterstock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is an increase from Shutterstock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Shutterstock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 111.63%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Shutterstock by 10.7% in the third quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,272 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. WealthCollab LLC raised its stake in Shutterstock by 40.7% in the third quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 2,043 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Shutterstock by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 13,437 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Shutterstock by 5.1% in the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 12,852 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in Shutterstock by 0.6% in the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 113,450 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,365,000 after buying an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. 82.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shutterstock Company Profile

Shutterstock, Inc NYSE: SSTK operates a leading global creative platform that provides royalty-free stock content to businesses, marketing agencies and media outlets. Its primary offerings include high-resolution photographs, vector graphics, illustrations, video footage and music tracks, all available through subscription plans or on-demand licensing. The platform also features customizable design tools and collaborative workspaces that enable customers to create and manage visual content more efficiently.

Founded in 2003 by Jon Oringer, Shutterstock began as an online marketplace offering a modest selection of images and quickly scaled its library to hundreds of millions of assets.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.