Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR) Short Interest Up 28.4% in October

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 674,400 shares, a growth of 28.4% from the September 30th total of 525,100 shares. Currently, 4.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 122,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of RGR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 4.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,119,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,815,000 after acquiring an additional 86,532 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 112.7% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 142,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,945,000 after purchasing an additional 75,625 shares in the last quarter. Impala Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. during the second quarter worth about $2,228,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. during the second quarter worth about $1,984,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. during the second quarter worth about $1,332,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.00% of the company’s stock.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE RGR traded down $0.32 on Wednesday, reaching $40.83. 160,247 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 144,664. The firm has a market cap of $687.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83 and a beta of 0.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.71. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.21 and a fifty-two week high of $55.58.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.29). The business had revenue of $130.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $137.60 million. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 10.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.64%.

About Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells firearms under the Ruger name and trademark in the United States. The company operates through two segments: Firearms and Castings. It provides single-shot, autoloading, bolt-action, and modern sporting rifles; rimfire and centerfire autoloading pistols; single-action and double-action revolvers; and firearms accessories and replacement parts, as well as manufactures lever-action rifles under the Marlin name and trademark.