Short Interest in Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) Rises By 8.6%

Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) was the target of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,410,000 shares, an increase of 8.6% from the August 15th total of 4,060,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days. Approximately 3.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Hasbro in a report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Hasbro from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Hasbro from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Hasbro from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $74.00 in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Hasbro from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.55.

Hasbro Price Performance

NASDAQ:HAS traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $71.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,251,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,682,206. Hasbro has a fifty-two week low of $42.66 and a fifty-two week high of $72.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.95. The company has a market capitalization of $9.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.72 and a 200-day moving average of $60.34.

Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $995.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $941.38 million. Hasbro had a negative net margin of 22.78% and a positive return on equity of 38.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Hasbro will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hasbro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Hasbro’s payout ratio is -27.61%.

Institutional Trading of Hasbro

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Hasbro by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,381,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $785,367,000 after buying an additional 3,273,563 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Hasbro by 7.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,858,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,723,000 after purchasing an additional 135,548 shares during the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Hasbro by 87.4% during the second quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 1,833,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,252,000 after purchasing an additional 855,099 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Hasbro during the first quarter valued at approximately $82,523,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Hasbro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,544,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.83% of the company’s stock.

About Hasbro

Hasbro, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a toy and game company in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Australia, China, and Hong Kong. The company operates through Consumer Products; Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming; Entertainment; and Corporate and Other segments.