Short Interest in IDT Co. (NYSE:IDT) Increases By 61.3%

IDT Co. (NYSE:IDT - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 304,300 shares, a growth of 61.3% from the September 30th total of 188,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 92,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Marcelo Fischer sold 600 shares of IDT stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.57, for a total value of $29,142.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,573 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,824,920.61. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other IDT news, COO Bill Pereira sold 29,175 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total value of $1,378,227.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,889,600. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Marcelo Fischer sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.57, for a total transaction of $29,142.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,573 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,824,920.61. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 34,582 shares of company stock valued at $1,632,568. Company insiders own 15.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IDT

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in IDT by 40.3% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 133,195 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,036,000 after purchasing an additional 38,290 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in IDT by 2.7% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,106,606 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $39,749,000 after buying an additional 29,100 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in IDT during the second quarter worth about $976,000. Americana Partners LLC bought a new stake in IDT in the second quarter worth about $898,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new stake in IDT in the 2nd quarter valued at about $537,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.34% of the company's stock.

IDT Price Performance

IDT stock traded down $0.75 on Friday, reaching $45.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 74,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 133,109. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.30. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10 and a beta of 0.78. IDT has a 52 week low of $27.09 and a 52 week high of $49.60.

IDT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. IDT's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of IDT from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th.

About IDT

IDT Corporation provides communications and payment services in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through Fintech, National Retail Solutions, net2phone, and Traditional Communications segments. The company operates point of sale, a terminal-based platform which provides independent retailers store management software, electronic payment processing, and other ancillary merchant services; and provides marketers with digital out-of-home advertising and transaction data.