Short Interest in Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) Rises By 13.7%

Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,640,000 shares, an increase of 13.7% from the June 30th total of 8,480,000 shares. Approximately 11.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Foot Locker from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $24.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Foot Locker from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 19th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Foot Locker in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Foot Locker in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Foot Locker from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.44.

Foot Locker Stock Performance

Shares of FL traded up $1.57 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $28.03. 3,306,099 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,331,274. Foot Locker has a 1 year low of $14.84 and a 1 year high of $35.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $24.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.86. The stock has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.46.

Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The athletic footwear retailer reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. Foot Locker had a negative net margin of 4.41% and a positive return on equity of 2.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Foot Locker will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FL. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Foot Locker during the 4th quarter worth $20,717,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in Foot Locker during the first quarter valued at $3,488,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Foot Locker during the first quarter valued at about $2,670,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Foot Locker by 9.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,292,817 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $178,580,000 after buying an additional 902,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Foot Locker by 3,004.4% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,397 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 1,352 shares during the period.

About Foot Locker

Foot Locker, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a footwear and apparel retailer in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the Middle East. Its brand portfolio includes Foot Locker, a brand comprising sneakers and apparel; Kids Foot Locker, which offers athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories for children; and Champs Sports that operates as a mall-based specialty athletic footwear and apparel retailer.