Short Interest in Orion Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ORN) Increases By 156.7%

Orion Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ORN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,800,000 shares, a growth of 156.7% from the June 30th total of 701,100 shares. Approximately 6.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 511,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ORN. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Orion Group from $9.50 to $12.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Orion Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Craig Hallum began coverage on shares of Orion Group in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.00 target price for the company.

Orion Group Stock Up 8.0 %

NYSE ORN traded up $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $8.54. 1,251,108 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 824,419. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $9.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.33. Orion Group has a 52 week low of $3.13 and a 52 week high of $12.12.

Orion Group (NYSE:ORN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $192.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $194.83 million. Orion Group had a negative return on equity of 4.81% and a negative net margin of 2.45%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.14) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Orion Group will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Gordon Scott Thanisch bought 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $7.12 per share, with a total value of $28,480.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 167,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,194,814.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Austin J. Shanfelter sold 40,000 shares of Orion Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.01, for a total value of $360,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 437,734 shares in the company, valued at $3,943,983.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gordon Scott Thanisch purchased 4,000 shares of Orion Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $7.12 per share, with a total value of $28,480.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 167,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,194,814.32. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 8,560 shares of company stock valued at $60,995. Insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Orion Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Orion Group in the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Orion Group in the first quarter worth approximately $83,000. AJOVista LLC bought a new position in shares of Orion Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Orion Group by 2,851.4% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,448 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 10,094 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Orion Group in the fourth quarter worth $82,000. 70.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Orion Group Company Profile

Orion Group Holdings, Inc operates as a specialty construction company in the building, industrial, and infrastructure sectors in the United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, and the Caribbean Basin. It operates in two segments, Marine and Concrete. The company provides marine construction services, including construction, restoration, dredging, maintenance, and repair of marine transportation facilities and pipelines, bridges and causeways, and marine environmental structures.