Short Interest in Great Ajax Corp. (NYSE:AJX) Expands By 13.3%

Great Ajax Corp. (NYSE:AJX) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 147,600 shares, a growth of 13.3% from the September 30th total of 130,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 117,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Great Ajax

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Great Ajax during the first quarter valued at $35,501,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Great Ajax by 10.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,217,207 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,625,000 after purchasing an additional 114,046 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Great Ajax by 321.3% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 91,101 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 69,477 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Great Ajax during the second quarter valued at $98,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Great Ajax during the second quarter valued at $43,000. 58.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Great Ajax Stock Performance

AJX stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $3.13. The company had a trading volume of 65,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 133,924. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.84 million, a P/E ratio of -0.78 and a beta of 1.90. Great Ajax has a one year low of $2.98 and a one year high of $6.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.44.

Great Ajax (NYSE:AJX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by $0.26. The company had revenue of $12.35 million for the quarter. Great Ajax had a negative return on equity of 6.68% and a negative net margin of 181.85%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.25) earnings per share.

Great Ajax Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Great Ajax’s payout ratio is -5.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, BTIG Research assumed coverage on Great Ajax in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock.

About Great Ajax

Great Ajax Corp. operates as a mortgage real estate investment trust. It acquires re-performing and non-performing loans; acquires or originates small balance commercial mortgage loans that are secured by multi-family residential and commercial mixed use retail/residential properties; and invests in single-family and smaller commercial properties.