Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW) Short Interest Up 33.3% in February

Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,040,000 shares, a growth of 33.3% from the February 13th total of 6,030,000 shares. Approximately 10.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WWW shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Wolverine World Wide from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Wolverine World Wide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Wolverine World Wide in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Wolverine World Wide from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Wolverine World Wide from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

Wolverine World Wide Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE WWW traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $13.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,110,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,176,683. Wolverine World Wide has a 52-week low of $9.07 and a 52-week high of $24.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23 and a beta of 1.93.

Wolverine World Wide (NYSE:WWW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. Wolverine World Wide had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 26.81%. The company had revenue of $494.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.30) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Wolverine World Wide will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Wolverine World Wide Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. Wolverine World Wide’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wolverine World Wide

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWW. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wolverine World Wide during the fourth quarter worth about $64,943,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Wolverine World Wide by 1,263.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,426,942 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $24,857,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322,254 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Wolverine World Wide during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,974,000. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in shares of Wolverine World Wide in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,943,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wolverine World Wide by 179.1% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 628,338 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $13,949,000 after buying an additional 403,176 shares during the last quarter. 90.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Wolverine World Wide

Wolverine World Wide, Inc designs, manufactures, sources, markets, licenses, and distributes footwear, apparel, and accessories in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Canada and Latin America. It operates through Active Group and Work Group segments. The company offers casual footwear and apparel; performance outdoor and athletic footwear and apparel; kids' footwear; industrial work boots and apparel; and uniform shoes and boots.