Fair Isaac Co. (NYSE:FICO) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Fair Isaac Co. (NYSE:FICO) saw a significant drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 589,400 shares, a drop of 17.7% from the August 15th total of 716,200 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 163,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on FICO shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Fair Isaac to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Fair Isaac from $1,500.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Fair Isaac from $1,264.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Fair Isaac in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,967.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Fair Isaac from $1,350.00 to $1,500.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,582.58.

Fair Isaac Stock Down 0.5 %

FICO opened at $1,886.08 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $1,687.50 and its 200-day moving average is $1,439.39. Fair Isaac has a 52-week low of $811.99 and a 52-week high of $1,907.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.01, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 1.34.

Fair Isaac (NYSE:FICO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The technology company reported $4.99 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.34). The firm had revenue of $447.85 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $448.53 million. Fair Isaac had a negative return on equity of 60.67% and a net margin of 28.94%. Equities analysts expect that Fair Isaac will post 19.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fair Isaac announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, July 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joanna Rees sold 3,961 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,750.00, for a total transaction of $6,931,750.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Fair Isaac news, CFO Steven P. Weber sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,735.00, for a total transaction of $3,123,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $997,625. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joanna Rees sold 3,961 shares of Fair Isaac stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,750.00, for a total value of $6,931,750.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,261 shares of company stock valued at $26,291,370. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fair Isaac

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Fair Isaac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fair Isaac by 81.8% in the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 20 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Fair Isaac during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fair Isaac during the second quarter worth $34,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Fair Isaac in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. 85.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fair Isaac Company Profile

Fair Isaac Corporation develops analytic, software, and digital decisioning technologies and services that enable businesses to automate, enhance, and connect decisions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Scores and Software. The Software segment provides pre-configured analytic and decision management solution designed for various business needs or processes, such as account origination, customer management, customer engagement, fraud detection, financial crimes compliance, and marketing, as well as associated professional services.