Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) Short Interest Update

Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) was the target of a large growth in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,640,000 shares, a growth of 13.7% from the June 30th total of 8,480,000 shares. Approximately 11.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,930,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Foot Locker from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $18.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Foot Locker in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Foot Locker in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on Foot Locker from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Foot Locker from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.44.

Foot Locker Price Performance

Shares of FL stock traded up $1.57 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $28.03. The stock had a trading volume of 3,306,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,331,274. The company has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Foot Locker has a 12-month low of $14.84 and a 12-month high of $35.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.86.

Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The athletic footwear retailer reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.10. Foot Locker had a negative net margin of 4.41% and a positive return on equity of 2.91%. The business had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Foot Locker will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Foot Locker by 9.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,292,817 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock valued at $178,580,000 after acquiring an additional 902,610 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Foot Locker by 326.4% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 921,273 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $26,256,000 after purchasing an additional 705,237 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Foot Locker in the 4th quarter valued at about $21,238,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Foot Locker during the 4th quarter worth about $20,717,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Foot Locker by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,900,439 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $72,279,000 after purchasing an additional 557,489 shares in the last quarter.

Foot Locker Company Profile

Foot Locker, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a footwear and apparel retailer in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the Middle East. Its brand portfolio includes Foot Locker, a brand comprising sneakers and apparel; Kids Foot Locker, which offers athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories for children; and Champs Sports that operates as a mall-based specialty athletic footwear and apparel retailer.