Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) Short Interest Up 22.7% in October

Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,270,000 shares, a growth of 22.7% from the October 15th total of 3,480,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,260,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HAS. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Hasbro in the 1st quarter valued at $82,523,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in Hasbro by 9,806.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,000,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,320,000 after buying an additional 989,906 shares during the period. Samlyn Capital LLC lifted its position in Hasbro by 87.4% in the second quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 1,833,374 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,252,000 after buying an additional 855,099 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Hasbro by 469.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 686,144 shares of the company's stock worth $40,037,000 after buying an additional 565,645 shares during the period. Finally, Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hasbro during the third quarter valued at about $32,032,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.83% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Hasbro from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Hasbro from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. DA Davidson upped their price target on Hasbro from $59.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Hasbro from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Hasbro from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hasbro currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.67.

Hasbro Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HAS traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $62.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,168,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,617,096. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.63. Hasbro has a 1-year low of $43.74 and a 1-year high of $73.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $69.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. Hasbro had a negative net margin of 14.83% and a positive return on equity of 47.91%. The business's revenue was down 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hasbro will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hasbro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Hasbro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -60.34%.

Hasbro Company Profile

Hasbro, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a toy and game company in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Australia, China, and Hong Kong. The company operates through Consumer Products; Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming; Entertainment; and Corporate and Other segments.