AstroNova, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALOT) Short Interest Up 28.9% in February

AstroNova, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALOT) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 12,500 shares, an increase of 28.9% from the February 13th total of 9,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 16,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.7 days. Currently, 0.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

AstroNova Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of ALOT stock opened at $10.84 on Monday. AstroNova has a 1-year low of $9.70 and a 1-year high of $18.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $11.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $81.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68 and a beta of 0.62.

AstroNova (NASDAQ:ALOT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The business services provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter. AstroNova had a return on equity of 5.21% and a net margin of 2.49%.

Institutional Trading of AstroNova

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALOT. Mink Brook Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AstroNova during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,507,000. Peapod Lane Capital LLC purchased a new stake in AstroNova during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,536,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in AstroNova by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 83,544 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 15,544 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in AstroNova by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 65,359 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $785,000 after purchasing an additional 8,314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in AstroNova by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 69,309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $933,000 after purchasing an additional 6,592 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 43.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on AstroNova in a research note on Monday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock.

About AstroNova

AstroNova, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes specialty printers, and data acquisition and analysis systems in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, Central and South America, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Product Identification (PI) and Test & Measurement (T&M).