Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest rose 31.5% in April to 1,790,012 shares, equal to 7.4% of shares outstanding and a 7.4 days-to-cover ratio based on average volume.
• SSTK beat EPS estimates ($0.58 vs. $0.51) but revenue missed and fell 17.9% year-over-year, and the stock traded down about 3% to $16.75 with a market cap near $595.6M.
• Shutterstock declared a $0.36 quarterly dividend (annualized $1.44) for an 8.6% yield, while the dividend payout ratio is an elevated ~111.6%, raising sustainability concerns.

Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,790,012 shares, a growth of 31.5% from the March 31st total of 1,361,329 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 242,813 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.4 days. Currently, 7.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Shutterstock Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of SSTK traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $16.75. 242,666 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 292,956. The company has a market cap of $595.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 1.18. Shutterstock has a fifty-two week low of $14.36 and a fifty-two week high of $29.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The stock's 50-day moving average is $16.82 and its 200-day moving average is $19.09.

Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $199.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $221.46 million. Shutterstock had a net margin of 4.60% and a return on equity of 16.13%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Shutterstock will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shutterstock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.6%. Shutterstock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 111.63%.

Institutional Trading of Shutterstock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SSTK. WealthCollab LLC boosted its stake in Shutterstock by 106.3% during the 2nd quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 1,452 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Shutterstock by 150.6% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,772 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 1,065 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Shutterstock by 31.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,951 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 707 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Shutterstock by 72.7% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,297 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,388 shares during the period. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Shutterstock by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,272 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.79% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SSTK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Shutterstock from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Shutterstock in a report on Monday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $25.00.

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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