Short Interest in Karooooo Ltd. (NASDAQ:KARO) Rises By 32.7%

Karooooo Ltd. (NASDAQ:KARO) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 70,200 shares, an increase of 32.7% from the January 31st total of 52,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 44,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Karooooo Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:KARO traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $43.90. 48,548 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 46,416. The company’s 50 day moving average is $46.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.79. Karooooo has a twelve month low of $23.35 and a twelve month high of $50.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14 and a beta of 1.02.

Karooooo (NASDAQ:KARO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 14th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Karooooo had a return on equity of 30.29% and a net margin of 19.87%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Karooooo will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Karooooo in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in shares of Karooooo by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 602 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Karooooo by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Karooooo by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 236,972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,699,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the period. Finally, Polen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Karooooo by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 13,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,639 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Karooooo in a report on Thursday, January 16th.

Karooooo Company Profile

Karooooo Ltd. provides mobility software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for connected vehicles in South Africa, rest of Africa, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the United States. The company offers Fleet Telematics, a fleet management SaaS platform that provides real-time insights; LiveVision, which offers pro-active risk management and fleet visibility; MiFleet advanced fleet administration and business intelligence that provides cost management and administration capability services; and Karooooo Logistics, a software application for management of last mile delivery and general operational logistics.