Short Interest in Koninklijke Philips (NYSE:PHG) Declines By 21.2%

Koninklijke Philips (NYSE:PHG - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,860,000 shares, a decline of 21.2% from the February 28th total of 2,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 732,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PHG. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Koninklijke Philips by 26.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 55,290 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,809,000 after purchasing an additional 11,538 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Koninklijke Philips by 16.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 60,112 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,967,000 after purchasing an additional 8,625 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Koninklijke Philips by 0.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,138,708 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $200,859,000 after buying an additional 35,935 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Koninklijke Philips in the 3rd quarter valued at about $564,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Koninklijke Philips by 22.1% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 20,057 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $656,000 after purchasing an additional 3,629 shares during the period. 13.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PHG shares. StockNews.com raised Koninklijke Philips from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Koninklijke Philips from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Koninklijke Philips from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Koninklijke Philips from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Koninklijke Philips Stock Performance

PHG traded down $1.78 during trading on Friday, hitting $22.08. The stock had a trading volume of 2,178,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 878,121. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $20.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.36. Koninklijke Philips has a one year low of $19.25 and a one year high of $32.91.

Koninklijke Philips (NYSE:PHG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.01). Koninklijke Philips had a negative net margin of 3.88% and a positive return on equity of 10.85%. The firm had revenue of $5.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.10 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Koninklijke Philips will post 1.63 EPS for the current year.

Koninklijke Philips Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.886 per share. This represents a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Koninklijke Philips's dividend payout ratio is presently -89.29%.

Koninklijke Philips Company Profile

Koninklijke Philips N.V. operates as a health technology company in North America, the Greater China, and internationally. The company operates through Diagnosis & Treatment Businesses, Connected Care Businesses, and Personal Health Businesses segments. It also provides diagnostic imaging solutions, includes magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray systems, and computed tomography (CT) systems and software comprising detector-based spectral CT solutions, as well as molecular and hybrid imaging solutions for nuclear medicine; echography solutions focused on diagnosis, treatment planning and guidance for cardiology, general imaging, obstetrics/gynecology, and point-of-care applications; integrated interventional systems, and interventional diagnostic and therapeutic devices to treat coronary artery and peripheral vascular disease.