Nomad Foods Limited (NYSE:NOMD) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Nomad Foods Limited (NYSE:NOMD) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,790,000 shares, an increase of 31.6% from the January 31st total of 2,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 672,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Nomad Foods

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NOMD. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Nomad Foods in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,386,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nomad Foods in the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,967,000. Vident Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nomad Foods in the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,003,000. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nomad Foods by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 8,376,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,552,000 after purchasing an additional 410,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Nomad Foods by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,265,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,227,000 after purchasing an additional 373,800 shares during the last quarter. 75.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on NOMD. Mizuho upped their target price on Nomad Foods from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays increased their price target on Nomad Foods from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded Nomad Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Nomad Foods from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th.

Nomad Foods Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE:NOMD traded up $0.46 on Tuesday, hitting $20.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,825,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 588,512. The business’s fifty day moving average is $17.44 and its 200 day moving average is $17.82. The company has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Nomad Foods has a 52 week low of $15.43 and a 52 week high of $20.83.

Nomad Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Nomad Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Nomad Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 51.13%.

About Nomad Foods

Nomad Foods Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of frozen food products in the United Kingdom and internationally. The company offers frozen fish products, including fish fingers, coated fish, and natural fish; ready-to-cook vegetable products, such as peas and spinach; and frozen poultry and meat products comprising nuggets, grills, and burgers.