Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) saw a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,350,000 shares, an increase of 10.4% from the December 15th total of 6,660,000 shares. Currently, 8.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,480,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Foot Locker

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Foot Locker in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Foot Locker by 156.1% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,616 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Foot Locker in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Foot Locker in the third quarter valued at $58,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Foot Locker in the second quarter valued at $61,000.

Foot Locker Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:FL traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $20.44. 2,852,006 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,618,273. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.14. Foot Locker has a twelve month low of $19.33 and a twelve month high of $35.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.53, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.49.

Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The athletic footwear retailer reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.07). Foot Locker had a positive return on equity of 2.91% and a negative net margin of 5.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Foot Locker will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FL. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price target on Foot Locker from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Foot Locker from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Foot Locker from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Foot Locker from $38.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Foot Locker from $27.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.18.

About Foot Locker

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.