Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ:FARM) Short Interest Down 8.3% in August

Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ:FARM) was the target of a large decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 52,800 shares, a decline of 8.3% from the August 15th total of 57,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 45,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.2 days. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Farmer Bros.

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Farmer Bros. by 8.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 824,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,944,000 after buying an additional 65,277 shares during the period. Sanders Morris Harris LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Farmer Bros. in the first quarter valued at $250,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Farmer Bros. by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 367,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $986,000 after acquiring an additional 17,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Farmer Bros. by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 559,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on FARM shares. StockNews.com lowered Farmer Bros. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Roth Mkm dropped their price target on Farmer Bros. from $6.00 to $4.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Craig Hallum began coverage on Farmer Bros. in a research note on Monday, June 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $6.00 price objective on the stock.

Farmer Bros. Price Performance

FARM stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $2.13. 85,959 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 65,831. Farmer Bros. has a 52 week low of $2.10 and a 52 week high of $4.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.94 and a beta of 1.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Farmer Bros. (NASDAQ:FARM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22). Farmer Bros. had a negative net margin of 13.46% and a negative return on equity of 58.82%. The firm had revenue of $84.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.84) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Farmer Bros. will post -0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Farmer Bros.

Farmer Bros. Co engages in the roasting, wholesale, equipment servicing, and distribution of coffee, tea, and other allied products in the United States. The company offers roast and ground coffee; frozen liquid coffee; flavoured and unflavoured iced and hot teas; culinary products, including spices, pancake and biscuit mixes, gravy and sauce mixes, soup bases, dressings, and syrups and sauces, as well as coffee filters, cups, sugar, and creamers; and other beverages comprising cappuccino, cocoa, granitas, and other blender-based beverages and concentrated and ready-to-drink cold brew and iced coffee.