Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,260,000 shares, a decrease of 9.6% from the October 15th total of 2,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 637,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 10.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Helen of Troy Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Helen of Troy stock traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $66.48. 32,690 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 441,811. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a 50 day moving average of $63.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Helen of Troy has a fifty-two week low of $48.05 and a fifty-two week high of $127.83.

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $474.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $458.85 million. Helen of Troy had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 7.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Helen of Troy will post 6.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Helen of Troy declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 39.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Helen of Troy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Helen of Troy during the 1st quarter worth about $239,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Helen of Troy by 153.7% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Helen of Troy in the second quarter valued at approximately $289,000. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Helen of Troy by 2.7% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 666,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,789,000 after buying an additional 17,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Helen of Troy by 58.4% during the 1st quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 87,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,107,000 after acquiring an additional 32,321 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HELE. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 price objective on shares of Helen of Troy in a research report on Monday, October 7th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Helen of Troy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th.

Helen of Troy Company Profile

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.