CDW Co. (NASDAQ:CDW) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

CDW Co. (NASDAQ:CDW) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,220,000 shares, a drop of 15.7% from the July 31st total of 3,820,000 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 982,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Insider Transactions at CDW

In related news, insider Christine A. Leahy purchased 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $216.15 per share, for a total transaction of $259,380.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 102,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,090,530. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Sona Chawla sold 18,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.45, for a total transaction of $4,433,176.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 22,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,392,812.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christine A. Leahy purchased 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $216.15 per share, with a total value of $259,380.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 102,200 shares in the company, valued at $22,090,530. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CDW

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CDW. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of CDW by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,464,886 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $787,638,000 after acquiring an additional 781,421 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CDW by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,407,542 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,196,721,000 after acquiring an additional 714,393 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CDW by 225.9% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 881,586 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $225,491,000 after acquiring an additional 611,054 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in CDW by 627.3% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 625,781 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $142,252,000 after purchasing an additional 539,745 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in CDW in the 4th quarter worth $111,736,000. 93.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of CDW from $232.00 to $229.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of CDW from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of CDW from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CDW has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.63.

CDW Price Performance

NASDAQ:CDW traded up $2.52 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $225.64. The stock had a trading volume of 1,437,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 836,879. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $222.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $232.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CDW has a one year low of $185.04 and a one year high of $263.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.04.

CDW (NASDAQ:CDW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The information technology services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.39 by ($0.05). CDW had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 62.22%. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that CDW will post 9.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CDW Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 26th. CDW’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.96%.

About CDW

CDW Corporation provides information technology (IT) solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. It operates through three segments: Corporate, Small Business, and Public. The company offers discrete hardware and software products and services, as well as integrated IT solutions, including on-premise and cloud capabilities across hybrid infrastructure, digital experience, and security.