Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest dropped sharply by 37.5% in March to 1,596,900 shares (about 6.6% of the float) with a days-to-cover ratio of 4.5 days.
• Shutterstock missed the latest quarter's estimates, reporting $0.67 EPS versus a $1.05 consensus and revenue of $220.2M (down 12% year‑over‑year, below the ~$252.3M estimate).
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.36 ($1.44 annualized) for a yield of 8.9%, though the payout ratio is an elevated 111.63%.

Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,596,900 shares, a drop of 37.5% from the February 26th total of 2,556,659 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 355,910 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days. Currently, 6.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Shutterstock by 229.7% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 804,655 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $15,369,000 after acquiring an additional 560,617 shares during the period. Callodine Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Shutterstock in the 2nd quarter worth about $7,835,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Shutterstock by 109.3% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 626,615 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $11,674,000 after purchasing an additional 327,203 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Shutterstock by 72.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 547,241 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $11,410,000 after purchasing an additional 230,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new position in Shutterstock during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,763,000. 82.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shutterstock Price Performance

Shares of Shutterstock stock traded down $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $16.14. 40,916 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 318,801. The company has a market cap of $573.78 million, a PE ratio of 12.52 and a beta of 1.23. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $17.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.76. Shutterstock has a twelve month low of $14.35 and a twelve month high of $29.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

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

Shutterstock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is a boost from Shutterstock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.9%. Shutterstock's dividend payout ratio is 111.63%.

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.

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