Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,040,000 shares, an increase of 33.3% from the February 13th total of 6,030,000 shares. Currently, 10.2% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wolverine World Wide

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WWW. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Wolverine World Wide during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Wolverine World Wide by 88.8% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,450 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares during the period. Natixis bought a new stake in shares of Wolverine World Wide in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Wolverine World Wide in the fourth quarter worth $64,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Wolverine World Wide by 43.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,303 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,311 shares during the period. 90.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on WWW. StockNews.com lowered shares of Wolverine World Wide from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Wolverine World Wide from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Wolverine World Wide from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Wolverine World Wide from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Wolverine World Wide in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.50.

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Wolverine World Wide Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE WWW traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $13.78. 1,480,953 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,181,180. The company's fifty day moving average is $18.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.29. Wolverine World Wide has a fifty-two week low of $9.07 and a fifty-two week high of $24.64. The stock has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of 25.06 and a beta of 1.93.

Wolverine World Wide (NYSE:WWW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. Wolverine World Wide had a return on equity of 26.81% and a net margin of 2.73%. The company had revenue of $494.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.30) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Wolverine World Wide will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Wolverine World Wide Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Wolverine World Wide's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.73%.

About Wolverine World Wide

Wolverine World Wide, Inc designs, manufactures, sources, markets, licenses, and distributes footwear, apparel, and accessories in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Canada and Latin America. It operates through Active Group and Work Group segments. The company offers casual footwear and apparel; performance outdoor and athletic footwear and apparel; kids' footwear; industrial work boots and apparel; and uniform shoes and boots.