Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) Short Interest Up 31.3% in August

Key Points

• Wipro Limited experienced a significant increase in short interest, rising by 31.3% in August to a total of 118,220,000 shares, compared to 90,050,000 shares at the end of July.
• The company's shares traded at $2.77, with a market cap of $28.95 billion, and have shown a 1-year low of $2.62 and a 1-year high of $3.79.
• Recently, Wipro announced a dividend of $0.057 per share with a significant dividend yield of 409.9%, reflecting a dividend payout ratio of 62.50%.

Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totaling 118,220,000 shares, anincreaseof31.3% from the July 31st total of 90,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 17.8 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 17.8 days.

Wipro Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of WIT traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $2.77. The company had a trading volume of 295,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,080,737. The stock has a market cap of $28.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.84, a P/E/G ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 0.96. Wipro has a 1-year low of $2.62 and a 1-year high of $3.79. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $2.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.93.

Wipro (NYSE:WIT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The information technology services provider reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $219.23 billion. Wipro had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 15.94%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Wipro will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Wipro Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 28th were paid a dividend of $0.057 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 409.9%. Wipro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.50%.

Institutional Trading of Wipro

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WIT. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of Wipro by 116.5% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 16,370 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 8,808 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Wipro by 115.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,843,118 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,525,000 after purchasing an additional 988,042 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Wipro by 172.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,679,066 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $9,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,697,118 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Wipro by 411.5% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 69,422 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 55,849 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wipro by 96.2% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 117,477 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 57,602 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 2.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Wipro from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wipro has a consensus rating of "Reduce".

Wipro Company Profile

Wipro Limited operates as an information technology (IT), consulting, and business process services company worldwide. It operates through IT Services and IT Products segments. The IT Services segment offers IT and IT-enabled services, including digital strategy advisory, customer-centric design, technology and IT consulting, custom application design, development, re-engineering and maintenance, systems integration, package implementation, cloud and infrastructure, business process, cloud, mobility and analytics, research and development, and hardware and software design services to enterprises.

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