Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW) Short Interest Up 33.3% in February

by · The Markets Daily

Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW – Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,040,000 shares, a growth of 33.3% from the February 13th total of 6,030,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.0 days. Approximately 10.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WWW. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Wolverine World Wide from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $29.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group cut their price target on Wolverine World Wide from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Wolverine World Wide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Wolverine World Wide in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Wolverine World Wide from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.50.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Wolverine World Wide

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wolverine World Wide

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in Wolverine World Wide by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,766,527 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $261,217,000 after acquiring an additional 249,456 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in Wolverine World Wide by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 5,228,918 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $116,082,000 after acquiring an additional 19,295 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Wolverine World Wide by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,065,736 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $53,405,000 after purchasing an additional 16,228 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Wolverine World Wide during the 4th quarter worth about $64,943,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Wolverine World Wide by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,425,858 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $53,854,000 after purchasing an additional 998,916 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.25% of the company’s stock.

Wolverine World Wide Stock Performance

NYSE:WWW traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $13.33. 1,110,168 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,176,683. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.20 and a 200 day moving average of $19.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. Wolverine World Wide has a 1-year low of $9.07 and a 1-year high of $24.64.

Wolverine World Wide (NYSE:WWW – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. The company had revenue of $494.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.74 million. Wolverine World Wide had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 26.81%. Wolverine World Wide’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.30) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Wolverine World Wide will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Wolverine World Wide Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Wolverine World Wide’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.73%.

About Wolverine World Wide

(Get Free Report)

Wolverine World Wide, Inc designs, manufactures, sources, markets, licenses, and distributes footwear, apparel, and accessories in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Canada and Latin America. It operates through Active Group and Work Group segments. The company offers casual footwear and apparel; performance outdoor and athletic footwear and apparel; kids' footwear; industrial work boots and apparel; and uniform shoes and boots.

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