Royce & Associates LP Buys 203,758 Shares of The Shyft Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHYF)

Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in shares of The Shyft Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHYF) by 21.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,156,776 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 203,758 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in The Shyft Group were worth $13,581,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in The Shyft Group by 257.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 45,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 32,906 shares during the last quarter. Kirr Marbach & Co. LLC IN lifted its stake in shares of The Shyft Group by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Kirr Marbach & Co. LLC IN now owns 300,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,533,000 after buying an additional 73,773 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Shyft Group by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 773,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,705,000 after buying an additional 9,588 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in The Shyft Group by 49.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 176,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,216,000 after buying an additional 58,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in The Shyft Group by 76.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 54,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,000 after acquiring an additional 23,761 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SHYF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of The Shyft Group in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. DA Davidson upgraded The Shyft Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th.

The Shyft Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:SHYF opened at $9.44 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The Shyft Group, Inc. has a one year low of $8.27 and a one year high of $17.56. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $11.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.21. The stock has a market cap of $329.76 million, a P/E ratio of -104.88 and a beta of 1.69.

The Shyft Group (NASDAQ:SHYF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.09). The Shyft Group had a negative net margin of 0.36% and a positive return on equity of 2.75%. The company had revenue of $201.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.90 million. Analysts anticipate that The Shyft Group, Inc. will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

The Shyft Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The Shyft Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently -222.22%.

The Shyft Group Company Profile

The Shyft Group, Inc engages in the manufacture and assembly of specialty vehicles for the commercial and recreational vehicle industries in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Fleet Vehicles and Services, and Specialty Vehicles. The Fleet Vehicles and Services segment offers commercial vehicles used in the e-commerce/last mile/parcel delivery, beverage and grocery delivery, laundry and linen, mobile retail, and trades and construction industries.