Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) Short Interest Up 10.4% in December

Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) was the target of a significant 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 company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,480,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moody National Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of Foot Locker during the fourth quarter worth about $610,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Foot Locker by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,908,253 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $49,319,000 after buying an additional 25,394 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Foot Locker during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $829,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Foot Locker in the second quarter worth $1,024,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Foot Locker during the third quarter worth $793,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on FL. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Foot Locker from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Gordon Haskett assumed coverage on shares of Foot Locker in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set an “accumulate” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Foot Locker from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Foot Locker from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Foot Locker from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Foot Locker currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.18.

Foot Locker Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of FL traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $20.44. 2,852,006 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,618,273. Foot Locker has a 1 year low of $19.33 and a 1 year high of $35.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.44 and its 200-day moving average is $25.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.49.

Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The athletic footwear retailer reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.30 EPS. Foot Locker’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Foot Locker will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

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.