Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC cut its stake in shares of Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) by 82.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,087 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,738 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Acushnet were worth $148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Acushnet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,024,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,783,000 after acquiring an additional 10,166 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acushnet during the fourth quarter valued at about $62,713,000. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of Acushnet by 702.1% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 508,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,430,000 after acquiring an additional 445,281 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Acushnet by 2.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 441,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,118,000 after acquiring an additional 10,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acushnet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 361,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,713,000 after purchasing an additional 2,793 shares during the period. 53.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOLF shares. Compass Point raised shares of Acushnet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $77.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acushnet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Acushnet from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Acushnet from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acushnet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acushnet news, insider Steven Francis Pelisek sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.86, for a total transaction of $1,417,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 96,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,802,985.16. This trade represents a 17.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 54.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Acushnet Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Acushnet stock opened at $65.95 on Tuesday. Acushnet Holdings Corp. has a 52-week low of $58.54 and a 52-week high of $76.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $67.98 and a 200 day moving average of $67.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.43 and a beta of 0.79.

Acushnet (NYSE:GOLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.31. Acushnet had a net margin of 7.78% and a return on equity of 21.45%. The company had revenue of $445.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $454.83 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Acushnet Holdings Corp. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acushnet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. This is a boost from Acushnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Acushnet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.23%.

Acushnet Profile

Acushnet Holdings Corp. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes golf products in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, Korea, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Titleist Golf Balls, Titleist Golf Clubs, Titleist Golf Gear, and FootJoy Golf Wear.