Traeger, Inc. (NYSE:COOK) Short Interest Up 5.5% in September

Traeger, Inc. (NYSE:COOK) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,530,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the August 31st total of 1,450,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 281,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.4 days. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Traeger

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Traeger during the 2nd quarter valued at $52,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in Traeger by 712.1% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 85,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 75,159 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Traeger during the 2nd quarter worth $345,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Traeger by 56.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 201,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 72,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Traeger by 19.4% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 182,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 29,694 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.84% of the company’s stock.

Traeger Price Performance

COOK traded down $0.10 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $3.58. 118,464 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 287,898. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Traeger has a twelve month low of $1.97 and a twelve month high of $3.97. The company has a market cap of $461.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.42 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $3.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.63.

Traeger (NYSE:COOK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.02. Traeger had a negative return on equity of 12.65% and a negative net margin of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $168.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. Traeger’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Traeger will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on COOK. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $4.00 price target on shares of Traeger in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Traeger from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler raised Traeger from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Traeger from $2.00 to $2.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Traeger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3.30.

About Traeger

Traeger, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, sources, sells, and supports wood pellet fueled barbecue grills for retailers, distributors, and direct to consumers in the United States. Its wood pellet grills are internet of things devices that allow owners to program, monitor, and control their grill through its Traeger app.