Short Interest in Masimo Co. (NASDAQ:MASI) Expands By 43.3%

Masimo Co. (NASDAQ:MASI - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,750,000 shares, a growth of 43.3% from the July 31st total of 4,710,000 shares. Currently, 13.7% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 743,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 9.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MASI. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Masimo in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Masimo from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $144.67.

Masimo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MASI traded up $0.75 during trading on Thursday, reaching $117.13. 219,602 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 657,746. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $116.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.94. Masimo has a 52-week low of $75.22 and a 52-week high of $153.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a PE ratio of 79.68 and a beta of 0.97.

Masimo (NASDAQ:MASI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical equipment provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $496.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $493.92 million. Masimo had a net margin of 4.01% and a return on equity of 13.26%. The firm's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Masimo will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Masimo

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Masimo by 133.3% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 350 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Masimo during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,748,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C purchased a new stake in shares of Masimo in the 2nd quarter worth $233,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Masimo in the 2nd quarter worth $3,183,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Masimo during the second quarter valued at $1,220,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.96% of the company's stock.

Masimo Company Profile

Masimo Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets various patient monitoring technologies, and automation and connectivity solutions worldwide. The company offers masimo signal extraction technology (SET) pulse oximetry with measure-through motion and low perfusion pulse oximetry monitoring to address the primary limitations of conventional pulse oximetry; Masimo rainbow SET platform, including rainbow SET Pulse CO-Oximetry products that allows noninvasive monitoring of carboxyhemoglobin, methemoglobin, hemoglobin concentration, fractional arterial oxygen saturation, oxygen content, pleth variability index, rainbow pleth variability index, respiration rate from the pleth, and oxygen reserve index, as well as acoustic respiration monitoring, SedLine brain function monitoring, NomoLine capnography and gas monitoring, and regional oximetry.