Yext (NYSE:YEXT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest surged 68.6% in March to 16,851,459 shares, representing about 14.4% of the stock and a short-interest ratio of 4.2 days based on average daily volume.
• Analysts are cautious: the consensus rating is Hold with an average price target of $7.50 after several downgrades and target cuts (two Buys, three Holds, one Sell).
• Major institutions increased stakes—Lynrock Lake holds 15.13M shares and Hudson Bay more than doubled its position—leaving roughly 71% of Yext owned by institutional investors.

Yext (NYSE:YEXT - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 16,851,459 shares, a growth of 68.6% from the February 26th total of 9,996,492 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,017,496 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days. Currently, 14.4% of the company's stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on YEXT. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Yext from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 15th. B. Riley Financial cut their target price on Yext from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Roth Mkm lowered Yext from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $9.50 to $6.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Yext from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of Yext in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $7.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yext

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lynrock Lake LP increased its position in Yext by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Lynrock Lake LP now owns 15,132,384 shares of the company's stock worth $121,967,000 after buying an additional 2,861,653 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Yext by 126.2% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 2,952,453 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,797,000 after buying an additional 1,647,174 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Yext during the 4th quarter worth $5,634,000. Millennium Management LLC purchased a new stake in Yext in the 1st quarter worth about $3,964,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in Yext by 97.1% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 957,958 shares of the company's stock worth $8,143,000 after acquiring an additional 472,000 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yext Stock Performance

YEXT traded down $0.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $3.97. 3,344,268 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,199,550. Yext has a one year low of $3.95 and a one year high of $9.20. The stock's fifty day moving average is $5.80 and its 200 day moving average is $7.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $489.06 million, a P/E ratio of 66.09 and a beta of 1.01.

Yext (NYSE:YEXT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 9th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. Yext had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 29.61%. The business had revenue of $112.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.21 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yext will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Yext

Yext, Inc is a software-as-a-service company that provides a platform for digital knowledge management. Its core offering enables businesses to centrally manage and synchronize public-facing information—such as location details, product descriptions and service offerings—across a network of search engines, mapping services, voice assistants and third-party directories.

The Yext platform is built around a proprietary Knowledge Graph, which stores and structures data to ensure consistency and accuracy.

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