Needham & Company LLC Begins Coverage on Foot Locker (NYSE:FL)

Research analysts at Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target on the athletic footwear retailer’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 16.73% from the company’s current price.

FL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Foot Locker from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Foot Locker from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Gordon Haskett started coverage on Foot Locker in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “accumulate” rating and a $27.00 price target for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Foot Locker from $27.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Foot Locker in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.33.

Foot Locker Stock Performance

Shares of FL stock opened at $23.13 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $24.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of -5.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.44. Foot Locker has a 52-week low of $20.47 and a 52-week high of $35.60.

Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The athletic footwear retailer reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.03. Foot Locker had a positive return on equity of 2.73% and a negative net margin of 4.48%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Foot Locker will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Vesa Equity Investment S.A R.L sold 539,180 shares of Foot Locker stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.22, for a total transaction of $17,911,559.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,393,592 shares in the company, valued at $345,275,126.24. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Foot Locker

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Foot Locker by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,700,102 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock valued at $117,123,000 after acquiring an additional 71,152 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Foot Locker by 23.8% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,900,439 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $72,279,000 after purchasing an additional 557,489 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Foot Locker by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,908,253 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $49,319,000 after purchasing an additional 25,394 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Foot Locker by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,135,474 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock valued at $29,341,000 after buying an additional 106,402 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Foot Locker by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,113,583 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock valued at $28,775,000 after buying an additional 38,318 shares during the period.

About Foot Locker

Foot Locker, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a footwear and apparel retailer in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the Middle East. Its brand portfolio includes Foot Locker, a brand comprising sneakers and apparel; Kids Foot Locker, which offers athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories for children; and Champs Sports that operates as a mall-based specialty athletic footwear and apparel retailer.