Leslie’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:LESL) Short Interest Update

Leslie’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:LESL) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 22,200,000 shares, a drop of 6.7% from the September 15th total of 23,790,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days. Currently, 12.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on LESL. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Leslie’s from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on shares of Leslie’s in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Leslie’s from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Leslie’s from $6.40 to $5.15 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Leslie’s from $6.00 to $3.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $3.96.

Leslie’s Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of LESL opened at $2.63 on Friday. Leslie’s has a twelve month low of $2.42 and a twelve month high of $8.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $485.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.17.

Leslie’s (NASDAQ:LESL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $569.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $569.99 million. Leslie’s had a net margin of 0.22% and a negative return on equity of 6.11%. The company’s revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Leslie’s will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LESL. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Leslie’s in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Leslie’s by 32,510.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 6,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 6,502 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC purchased a new stake in Leslie’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Leslie’s during the second quarter worth approximately $57,000. Finally, Creative Planning purchased a new stake in Leslie’s during the third quarter worth approximately $77,000.

About Leslie’s

Leslie’s, Inc operates as a direct-to-consumer pool and spa care brand in the United States. The company markets and sells pool and spa supplies and related products and services. It also offers various pool and spa maintenance items, such as chemicals, equipment and parts, cleaning and maintenance equipment, safety, recreational, and fitness related products.