Short Interest in Ingles Markets, Incorporated (NASDAQ:IMKTA) Drops By 5.9%

Ingles Markets, Incorporated (NASDAQ:IMKTA) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 431,700 shares, a decline of 5.9% from the August 15th total of 459,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 89,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ingles Markets news, Director Sharp Laura Ingle sold 4,799 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.38, for a total value of $337,753.62. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,901 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,312.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 23.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingles Markets

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IMKTA. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake in Ingles Markets by 1.2% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 550,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,220,000 after acquiring an additional 6,475 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in Ingles Markets by 0.3% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 376,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,804,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Ingles Markets by 9.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 369,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,330,000 after acquiring an additional 32,013 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ingles Markets by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 311,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,872,000 after acquiring an additional 23,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ingles Markets by 2.6% during the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 231,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,719,000 after acquiring an additional 5,950 shares in the last quarter. 62.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Ingles Markets from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th.

Ingles Markets Price Performance

IMKTA stock opened at $73.10 on Thursday. Ingles Markets has a 1 year low of $67.10 and a 1 year high of $89.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 2.99 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.26.

Ingles Markets (NASDAQ:IMKTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter. Ingles Markets had a net margin of 2.74% and a return on equity of 10.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter.

Ingles Markets Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. Ingles Markets’s payout ratio is 7.12%.

About Ingles Markets

Ingles Markets, Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, operates a chain of supermarkets in the southeast United States. It offers food products, including grocery, meat and dairy products, produce, frozen foods, and other perishables; and non-food products, which include fuel centers, pharmacies, health and beauty care products, and general merchandise, as well as private label items.