Johnson Outdoors Inc. (NASDAQ:JOUT) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Johnson Outdoors Inc. (NASDAQ:JOUT) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 362,500 shares, an increase of 6.1% from the March 15th total of 341,600 shares. Currently, 4.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 43,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.4 days.

Johnson Outdoors Stock Down 0.3 %

JOUT stock opened at $42.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $438.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.92, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.74. Johnson Outdoors has a 12-month low of $42.20 and a 12-month high of $64.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.38.

Johnson Outdoors (NASDAQ:JOUT) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $138.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.44 million. Johnson Outdoors had a net margin of 2.82% and a return on equity of 3.47%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Johnson Outdoors will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson Outdoors Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Johnson Outdoors’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson Outdoors

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Johnson Outdoors by 2.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 625,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,400,000 after purchasing an additional 14,706 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Johnson Outdoors by 0.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 459,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Johnson Outdoors by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 303,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,229,000 after purchasing an additional 21,889 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Johnson Outdoors by 2.3% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 263,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,603,000 after purchasing an additional 5,800 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Johnson Outdoors by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 209,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,212,000 after purchasing an additional 8,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.05% of the company’s stock.

About Johnson Outdoors

Johnson Outdoors Inc designs, manufactures, and markets seasonal and outdoor recreational products for fishing worldwide. It operates through four segments: Fishing, Camping, Watercraft Recreation, and Diving. The Fishing segment offers electric motors for trolling, marine battery chargers, and shallow water anchors; sonar and GPS equipment for fish finding, navigation, and marine cartography; and downriggers for controlled-depth fishing.