Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) Short Interest Update

Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,240,000 shares, an increase of 6.7% from the August 31st total of 2,100,000 shares. Currently, 9.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 729,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Helen of Troy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Helen of Troy in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Helen of Troy by 374.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Helen of Troy in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Helen of Troy by 153.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 576 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Helen of Troy in the first quarter worth approximately $201,000.

Helen of Troy Trading Up 0.3 %

HELE stock traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $61.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 465,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 426,564. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.85. Helen of Troy has a 12 month low of $48.05 and a 12 month high of $127.83. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $55.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 9th. The company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.60). Helen of Troy had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The firm had revenue of $416.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.85 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.58 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Helen of Troy will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Helen of Troy declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 39.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on HELE. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Helen of Troy from $100.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com cut Helen of Troy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of Helen of Troy from $137.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered Helen of Troy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $139.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th.

About Helen of Troy

Helen of Troy Limited provides various consumer products in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in two segments: Home & Outdoor and Beauty & Wellness. The Home & Outdoor segment offers food storage containers, kitchen utensils for cooking and preparing salads, fruits, vegetables and meats, graters, slicers and choppers, baking essentials, kitchen organization, bath, cleaning, infant and toddler products, and coffee preparation tools and electronics; and insulated beverageware, including bottles, travel tumblers, drinkware, mugs, food and lunch containers, insulated totes, soft coolers, outdoor kitchenware, and accessories.