Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) Short Interest Up 6.7% in October

Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,480,000 shares, a growth of 6.7% from the September 30th total of 3,260,000 shares. Approximately 2.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hasbro

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HAS. Axiom Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Hasbro by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 10,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $787,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Hasbro by 2.8% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Hasbro by 18.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Hasbro by 4.6% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in Hasbro by 0.9% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 32,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.83% of the company’s stock.

Hasbro Stock Performance

HAS traded down $1.02 on Thursday, hitting $65.63. 1,132,457 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,636,503. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $69.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.85. Hasbro has a twelve month low of $42.66 and a twelve month high of $73.46. The firm has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a PE ratio of -6.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.61.

Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.45. Hasbro had a positive return on equity of 38.83% and a negative net margin of 22.78%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Hasbro will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hasbro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.27%. Hasbro’s dividend payout ratio is presently -27.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Hasbro from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Hasbro from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Hasbro from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Hasbro from $59.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Hasbro from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.67.

Hasbro Company Profile

Hasbro, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a toy and game company in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Australia, China, and Hong Kong. The company operates through Consumer Products; Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming; Entertainment; and Corporate and Other segments.