Short Interest in Travel + Leisure Co. (NYSE:TNL) Decreases By 15.6%

Travel + Leisure Co. (NYSE:TNL - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,080,000 shares, a decline of 15.6% from the December 15th total of 1,280,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 551,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen P. Holmes sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.55, for a total value of $3,804,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 362,947 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,258,129.85. The trade was a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Geoffrey Richards sold 9,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.56, for a total transaction of $531,664.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,202 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,289,585.12. The trade was a 7.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 99,016 shares of company stock worth $4,846,863. 4.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TNL. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Travel + Leisure by 36.9% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 757 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Travel + Leisure by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 637 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Travel + Leisure by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,615 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Travel + Leisure by 314.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 663 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc lifted its stake in shares of Travel + Leisure by 14.4% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 5,345 shares of the company's stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. 87.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on TNL. Barclays lifted their price objective on Travel + Leisure from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Travel + Leisure from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Travel + Leisure in a report on Monday, January 6th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Travel + Leisure from $49.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Travel + Leisure from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $59.50.

Travel + Leisure Stock Performance

Travel + Leisure stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Thursday, reaching $52.08. 348,043 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 533,534. Travel + Leisure has a 52-week low of $38.26 and a 52-week high of $56.91. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.84, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.64. The company's 50-day moving average is $52.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.73.

Travel + Leisure (NYSE:TNL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $993.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Travel + Leisure had a negative return on equity of 48.06% and a net margin of 10.99%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Travel + Leisure will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Travel + Leisure Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Travel + Leisure's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.96%.

About Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Co, together with its subsidiaries, provides hospitality services and travel products in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Vacation Ownership; and Travel and Membership. The Vacation Ownership segment develops, markets, and sells vacation ownership interests (VOIs) to individual consumers, as well as provides consumer financing in connection with the sale of VOIs; and property management services at resorts.

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