Edgewell Personal Care Co (NYSE:EPC) Short Interest Update

Edgewell Personal Care Co (NYSE:EPC) was the target of a large decline in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,030,000 shares, a decline of 10.2% from the November 15th total of 2,260,000 shares. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 423,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Edgewell Personal Care

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Edgewell Personal Care by 63.9% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 664,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,163,000 after purchasing an additional 259,200 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in shares of Edgewell Personal Care by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,529,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,545,000 after buying an additional 252,235 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Edgewell Personal Care in the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,128,000. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Edgewell Personal Care by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,071,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,058,000 after acquiring an additional 152,200 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Edgewell Personal Care by 563.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 148,553 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,400,000 after acquiring an additional 126,168 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.91% of the company’s stock.

Edgewell Personal Care Price Performance

Shares of EPC stock traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $35.05. 359,638 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 400,138. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.55. Edgewell Personal Care has a fifty-two week low of $33.27 and a fifty-two week high of $41.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.88 and a beta of 0.88.

Edgewell Personal Care (NYSE:EPC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $517.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $535.23 million. Edgewell Personal Care had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 4.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Edgewell Personal Care will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Edgewell Personal Care Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. Edgewell Personal Care’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Edgewell Personal Care from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays lowered their price target on Edgewell Personal Care from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Edgewell Personal Care from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.40.

Edgewell Personal Care Company Profile

Edgewell Personal Care Company is a manufacturer and marketer of personal care products in the wet shave, sun and skin care, feminine care and infant care categories. As of September 30, 2016, the Company had a portfolio of over 25 brands. It manages its business in four segments: Wet Shave, Sun and Skin Care, Feminine Care and All Other.