Edgewell Personal Care Co (NYSE:EPC) Short Interest Update

Edgewell Personal Care Co (NYSE:EPC) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,910,000 shares, a drop of 13.2% from the December 15th total of 2,200,000 shares. Approximately 4.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 422,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Edgewell Personal Care from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Edgewell Personal Care from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Edgewell Personal Care from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on Edgewell Personal Care from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Institutional Trading of Edgewell Personal Care

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edgewell Personal Care during the second quarter worth approximately $53,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Edgewell Personal Care by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,620,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,524,000 after purchasing an additional 24,513 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Edgewell Personal Care in the 2nd quarter worth $1,370,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Edgewell Personal Care in the second quarter worth $569,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Edgewell Personal Care during the second quarter valued at about $84,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.91% of the company’s stock.

Edgewell Personal Care Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EPC traded up $0.57 on Friday, hitting $33.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 574,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 385,671. Edgewell Personal Care has a 1 year low of $31.20 and a 1 year high of $41.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a PE ratio of 17.22 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.54.

Edgewell Personal Care (NYSE:EPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $517.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $535.23 million. Edgewell Personal Care had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 9.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Edgewell Personal Care will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Edgewell Personal Care Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. Edgewell Personal Care’s dividend payout ratio is 30.61%.

About Edgewell Personal Care

Edgewell Personal Care Company is a manufacturer and marketer of personal care products in the wet shave, sun and skin care, feminine care and infant care categories. As of September 30, 2016, the Company had a portfolio of over 25 brands. It manages its business in four segments: Wet Shave, Sun and Skin Care, Feminine Care and All Other.