PetIQ, Inc. (NASDAQ:PETQ) Short Interest Down 15.7% in October

PetIQ, Inc. (NASDAQ:PETQ) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,020,000 shares, a decrease of 15.7% from the September 30th total of 1,210,000 shares. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 885,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Institutional Trading of PetIQ

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PETQ. CWM LLC raised its stake in PetIQ by 86.2% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PetIQ in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of PetIQ by 50.2% in the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of PetIQ during the 2nd quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in PetIQ by 107.4% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 2,704 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

PetIQ Stock Performance

Shares of PETQ remained flat at $30.98 during trading hours on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $925.99 million, a PE ratio of 79.44 and a beta of 1.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.72. PetIQ has a 1-year low of $15.09 and a 1-year high of $31.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

PetIQ (NASDAQ:PETQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.20. PetIQ had a net margin of 1.20% and a return on equity of 18.75%. The business had revenue of $328.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $330.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that PetIQ will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. William Blair cut PetIQ from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Truist Financial downgraded shares of PetIQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $30.00 to $31.00 in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.67.

About PetIQ

PetIQ, Inc operates as a pet medication and wellness company in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Products and Services. The company offers Rx pet medications, which sells flea and tick control, heartworm preventatives, arthritis, thyroid, diabetes and pain treatments, antibiotics, and other specialty medications; and develops and manufactures its own proprietary value-branded products, as well as third-party branded products for dogs and cats.