Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the five brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $72.80.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GOLF shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acushnet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Acushnet from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Compass Point upgraded Acushnet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $77.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Acushnet from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acushnet

In other news, insider Steven Francis Pelisek sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.86, for a total value of $1,417,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,802,985.16. This represents a 17.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 54.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acushnet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOLF. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Acushnet during the fourth quarter worth $62,713,000. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in Acushnet by 702.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 508,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,430,000 after acquiring an additional 445,281 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Acushnet in the 4th quarter worth about $28,641,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Acushnet in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,825,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Acushnet by 258.9% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 266,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,970,000 after purchasing an additional 192,034 shares during the last quarter. 53.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acushnet Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of GOLF stock opened at $68.04 on Tuesday. Acushnet has a 12-month low of $58.54 and a 12-month high of $76.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $67.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a PE ratio of 23.14 and a beta of 0.79.

Acushnet (NYSE:GOLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.31. The business had revenue of $445.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $454.83 million. Acushnet had a return on equity of 21.45% and a net margin of 7.78%. As a group, analysts predict that Acushnet will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Acushnet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.235 per share. This is an increase from Acushnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Acushnet’s payout ratio is currently 28.23%.

About Acushnet

Acushnet Holdings Corp. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes golf products in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, Korea, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Titleist Golf Balls, Titleist Golf Clubs, Titleist Golf Gear, and FootJoy Golf Wear.