National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) Short Interest Down 17.7% in April

National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,300,000 shares, a decrease of 17.7% from the March 31st total of 4,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 713,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.6 days. Approximately 5.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on NCMI. Benchmark restated a “speculative buy” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of National CineMedia in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. B. Riley upgraded shares of National CineMedia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $4.50 to $6.75 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of National CineMedia from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on shares of National CineMedia from $4.50 to $5.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On National CineMedia

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hill Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of National CineMedia by 67.4% during the fourth quarter. Hill Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 17,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 6,889 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new position in shares of National CineMedia during the third quarter valued at about $136,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of National CineMedia during the third quarter valued at about $212,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of National CineMedia during the fourth quarter valued at about $218,000. Finally, Zazove Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of National CineMedia by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Zazove Associates LLC now owns 130,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $539,000 after acquiring an additional 3,921 shares during the last quarter. 69.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

National CineMedia Stock Performance

NASDAQ NCMI opened at $4.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $433.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.46, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. National CineMedia has a 12-month low of $2.03 and a 12-month high of $5.75.

National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 18th. The business services provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $90.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.25 million. National CineMedia had a net margin of 426.68% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. On average, equities analysts forecast that National CineMedia will post 0.03 EPS for the current year.

About National CineMedia

National CineMedia, Inc, through its subsidiary, National CineMedia, LLC, operates cinema advertising network in North America. It engages in the sale of advertising to national, regional, and local businesses in Noovie, a cinema advertising and entertainment show seen on movie screens; and sells advertising on its Lobby Entertainment Network, a series of strategically-placed screens located in movie theater lobbies, as well as other forms of advertising and promotions in theatre lobbies.