Karat Packaging Inc. (NASDAQ:KRT) Short Interest Up 13.0% in March

Karat Packaging Inc. (NASDAQ:KRT) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 116,000 shares, a growth of 13.0% from the March 15th total of 102,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 50,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on KRT. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Karat Packaging in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Karat Packaging from $24.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th.

Karat Packaging Price Performance

Shares of KRT opened at $27.27 on Tuesday. Karat Packaging has a twelve month low of $13.01 and a twelve month high of $30.94. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $544.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 3.49, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Karat Packaging (NASDAQ:KRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.16). Karat Packaging had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 22.54%. The firm had revenue of $95.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.51 million. Equities analysts forecast that Karat Packaging will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Karat Packaging Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.40%. This is a positive change from Karat Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Karat Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Karat Packaging

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Karat Packaging by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,696 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in Karat Packaging by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 29,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,904 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Karat Packaging by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 46,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $922,000 after acquiring an additional 8,857 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Karat Packaging by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors Inc. now owns 404,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,020,000 after acquiring an additional 3,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Karat Packaging during the 1st quarter worth $215,000. 25.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Karat Packaging Company Profile

Karat Packaging Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and distribution of single-use disposable products in plastic, paper, biopolymer-based, and other compostable forms used in various restaurant and foodservice settings. It provides food and take-out containers, bags, tableware, cups, lids, cutlery, straws, specialty beverage ingredients, equipment, gloves, and other products under the Karat Earth brand.