Johnson Outdoors Inc. (NASDAQ:JOUT) Short Interest Up 6.1% in March

Johnson Outdoors Inc. (NASDAQ:JOUT) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 362,500 shares, a growth of 6.1% from the March 15th total of 341,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 43,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.4 days. Currently, 4.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Johnson Outdoors Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ JOUT opened at $42.74 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $439.37 million, a P/E ratio of 24.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.74. Johnson Outdoors has a 1 year low of $42.22 and a 1 year high of $64.71. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.38.

Johnson Outdoors (NASDAQ:JOUT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $138.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.44 million. Johnson Outdoors had a net margin of 2.82% and a return on equity of 3.47%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Johnson Outdoors will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

Johnson Outdoors Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Johnson Outdoors’s payout ratio is currently 77.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson Outdoors

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Johnson Outdoors by 7.0% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,065,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Johnson Outdoors by 27.4% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Johnson Outdoors by 4.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 41,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Johnson Outdoors by 54.6% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Johnson Outdoors by 0.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 459,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,680,000 after buying an additional 1,413 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.05% of the company’s stock.

About Johnson Outdoors

Johnson Outdoors Inc designs, manufactures, and markets seasonal and outdoor recreational products for fishing worldwide. It operates through four segments: Fishing, Camping, Watercraft Recreation, and Diving. The Fishing segment offers electric motors for trolling, marine battery chargers, and shallow water anchors; sonar and GPS equipment for fish finding, navigation, and marine cartography; and downriggers for controlled-depth fishing.