Abacus Life, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABL) Short Interest Up 37.9% in January

Abacus Life, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 686,900 shares, an increase of 37.9% from the December 31st total of 498,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 224,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Northland Capmk raised shares of Abacus Life to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $13.00 price target (up from $12.00) on shares of Abacus Life in a research note on Friday, November 8th. B. Riley decreased their price target on shares of Abacus Life from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Northland Securities started coverage on shares of Abacus Life in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $13.50 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abacus Life has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $14.30.

Abacus Life Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Abacus Life stock opened at $7.89 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $668.13 million, a PE ratio of -43.83 and a beta of 0.14. Abacus Life has a 1-year low of $6.75 and a 1-year high of $13.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Abacus Life (NASDAQ:ABL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.06. Abacus Life had a negative net margin of 11.65% and a positive return on equity of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $28.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.08 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.01 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Abacus Life will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Abacus Life

In other Abacus Life news, CEO Jay J. Jackson sold 2,031,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total transaction of $16,250,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,562,000 shares in the company, valued at $84,496,000. This represents a 16.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Matthew Ganovsky sold 156,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,847,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,776,376. The trade was a 1.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 36,367 shares of company stock valued at $279,626 and have sold 2,263,300 shares valued at $18,106,400. 79.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Abacus Life

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Abacus Life in the 2nd quarter valued at $106,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abacus Life in the 4th quarter worth about $110,000. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abacus Life by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 38,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 8,454 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. bought a new stake in shares of Abacus Life in the 2nd quarter worth about $418,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abacus Life in the 3rd quarter worth about $614,000.

Abacus Life Company Profile

Abacus Life, Inc operates as an alternative asset manager specializing in life insurance products. It purchases life insurance policies from consumers seeking liquidity and manages policies over time via trading, holding, and/or servicing. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in Orlando, Florida.