Short Interest in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) Declines By 9.6%

Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,260,000 shares, a drop of 9.6% from the October 15th total of 2,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 637,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Approximately 10.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Helen of Troy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Helen of Troy by 374.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Helen of Troy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Helen of Troy by 153.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in shares of Helen of Troy by 30.3% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 783 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC bought a new position in Helen of Troy during the third quarter worth $61,000.

Helen of Troy Stock Performance

Shares of HELE stock traded up $1.01 on Tuesday, hitting $66.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 32,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 441,811. Helen of Troy has a fifty-two week low of $48.05 and a fifty-two week high of $127.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $63.37 and its 200-day moving average is $73.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 10.95, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.85.

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $474.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $458.85 million. Helen of Troy had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 9.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Helen of Troy will post 6.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on HELE shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 price target on shares of Helen of Troy in a research note on Monday, October 7th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Helen of Troy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 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.