The Aaron’s Company, Inc. (NYSE:AAN) Short Interest Up 13.4% in September

The Aaron’s Company, Inc. (NYSE:AAN) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,970,000 shares, a growth of 13.4% from the August 31st total of 3,500,000 shares. Currently, 13.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 840,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Aaron’s Trading Up 0.2 %

AAN opened at $10.05 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $316.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.72 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.70. Aaron’s has a one year low of $6.62 and a one year high of $11.90.

Aaron’s (NYSE:AAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.10). Aaron’s had a negative net margin of 2.06% and a negative return on equity of 2.08%. The business had revenue of $503.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $513.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Aaron’s will post -0.01 EPS for the current year.

Aaron’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.98%. Aaron’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -63.29%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAN. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Aaron’s by 160.9% during the 4th quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc now owns 200,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,185,000 after acquiring an additional 123,839 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Aaron’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $216,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Aaron’s by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 166,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,248,000 after buying an additional 26,502 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aaron’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $178,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Aaron’s by 130.4% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 32,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 18,547 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Aaron’s from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Aaron’s from $8.00 to $10.10 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com began coverage on Aaron’s in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. BTIG Research began coverage on Aaron’s in a research note on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $10.10 target price (down previously from $11.00) on shares of Aaron’s in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aaron’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.46.

About Aaron’s

Headquartered in Atlanta, The Aaron’s Company, Inc (NYSE: AAN) is a leading, technology-enabled, omnichannel provider of lease-purchase solutions. Aaron’s engages in direct-to-consumer sales and lease ownership of furniture, appliances, consumer electronics and accessories through its approximately 1,300 company-operated and franchised stores in 47 states and Canada, as well as its e-commerce platform, Aarons.com.