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

Fair Isaac Co. (NYSE:FICO) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 620,000 shares, an increase of 5.2% from the August 31st total of 589,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 164,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Fair Isaac Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of FICO traded down $30.87 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $1,912.65. The stock had a trading volume of 184,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 173,200. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,759.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,489.11. The firm has a market cap of $47.26 billion, a PE ratio of 100.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.69 and a beta of 1.34. Fair Isaac has a one year low of $811.99 and a one year high of $1,962.96.

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

Fair Isaac announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 30th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fair Isaac

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fair Isaac

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Fair Isaac by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,855,775 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,605,000 after acquiring an additional 35,263 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Fair Isaac by 25.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 861,283 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,076,268,000 after purchasing an additional 174,397 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Fair Isaac by 3.9% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 370,605 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $551,706,000 after buying an additional 13,966 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Fair Isaac by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 345,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $514,523,000 after buying an additional 21,768 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Fair Isaac by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 181,406 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $226,687,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FICO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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 note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Fair Isaac from $2,100.00 to $2,200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Fair Isaac from $1,800.00 to $2,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Fair Isaac from $1,500.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Fair Isaac in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,725.00 price target for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,705.17.

About Fair Isaac

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.