Graham Holdings (NYSE:GHC) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Graham Holdings (NYSE:GHC) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 59,400 shares, a decrease of 5.1% from the May 31st total of 62,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 16,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Graham Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:GHC opened at $702.01 on Wednesday. Graham has a 1-year low of $551.36 and a 1-year high of $778.84. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $729.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $720.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 1.12.

Graham (NYSE:GHC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $11.24 earnings per share for the quarter. Graham had a return on equity of 5.39% and a net margin of 6.12%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter.

Graham Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be issued a $1.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 18th. This represents a $6.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Graham’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.41%.

Insider Transactions at Graham

In other Graham news, Director Anne M. Mulcahy bought 135 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $745.07 per share, for a total transaction of $100,584.45. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $493,236.34. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 32.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graham

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GHC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Graham in the fourth quarter worth about $18,160,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Graham by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 371,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $284,990,000 after buying an additional 20,629 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graham by 27.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 39,538 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,051,000 after buying an additional 8,443 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Graham during the first quarter worth about $6,230,000. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Graham during the first quarter worth about $5,256,000. 62.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised Graham from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th.

About Graham

Graham Holdings Company, through its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified education and media company in the United States and internationally. It provides test preparation services and materials; professional training and exam preparation for professional certifications and licensures; and non-academic operations support services to the Purdue University Global; operations support services for online courses and programs; training and test preparation services for accounting and financial services professionals; English-language training, academic preparation programs, and test preparation for English proficiency exams; and A-level examination preparation services, as well as operates colleges, business school, higher education institution, and an online learning institution.