Short Interest in Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE:BURL) Increases By 12.6%

Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE:BURL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,590,000 shares, a growth of 12.6% from the December 15th total of 2,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 829,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Currently, 4.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Burlington Stores Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:BURL opened at $290.46 on Monday. Burlington Stores has a 52 week low of $174.64 and a 52 week high of $298.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $284.30 and its 200-day moving average is $267.32. The firm has a market cap of $18.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Burlington Stores (NYSE:BURL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion. Burlington Stores had a return on equity of 47.52% and a net margin of 4.49%. The business’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Burlington Stores will post 7.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Jennifer Vecchio sold 494 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.95, for a total value of $140,765.30. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 59,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,936,573.15. This represents a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Burlington Stores

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Burlington Stores by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,851,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Burlington Stores by 10.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 112,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,119,000 after purchasing an additional 10,889 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Burlington Stores by 54.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 587,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,968,000 after purchasing an additional 207,959 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Burlington Stores during the second quarter valued at about $21,888,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Burlington Stores by 30.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BURL has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Burlington Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Burlington Stores from $313.00 to $344.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Burlington Stores from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of Burlington Stores in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Burlington Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $280.00 to $360.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $317.87.

About Burlington Stores

Burlington Stores, Inc operates as a retailer of branded merchandise in the United States. The company provides fashion-focused merchandise, including women's ready-to-wear apparel, menswear, youth apparel, footwear, accessories, toys, gifts, and coats, as well as baby, home, and beauty products.