Astronics Co. (NASDAQ:ATRO) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Astronics Co. (NASDAQ:ATRO) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,980,000 shares, a growth of 17.2% from the February 13th total of 1,690,000 shares. Approximately 6.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 384,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATRO has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Astronics from $17.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com raised Astronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th.

Insider Transactions at Astronics

In other news, Director Robert S. Keane sold 77,099 shares of Astronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.55, for a total transaction of $1,892,780.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $155,794.30. The trade was a 92.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 10.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Astronics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royce & Associates LP grew its position in Astronics by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,150,355 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $18,360,000 after acquiring an additional 181,619 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Astronics by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 998,506 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $15,936,000 after acquiring an additional 58,149 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Astronics by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 924,070 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $18,001,000 after acquiring an additional 58,356 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its position in Astronics by 58.7% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 881,504 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $14,069,000 after acquiring an additional 325,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Astronics by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 691,522 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $13,474,000 after buying an additional 13,469 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.68% of the company’s stock.

Astronics Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ATRO opened at $25.01 on Wednesday. Astronics has a 52-week low of $14.13 and a 52-week high of $25.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $19.39 and its 200-day moving average is $18.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market cap of $882.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -131.62 and a beta of 1.74.

Astronics (NASDAQ:ATRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.27. Astronics had a positive return on equity of 6.94% and a negative net margin of 0.82%. The company had revenue of $208.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $194.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Astronics will post 0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Astronics Company Profile

Astronics Corporation, through its subsidiaries, designs and manufactures products for the aerospace, defense, and electronics industries in the United States, rest of North America, Asia, Europe, South America, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Test Systems. The Aerospace segment offers lighting and safety systems, electrical power generation systems, distribution and seat motions systems, aircraft structures, avionics products, system certification, and other products.