Karat Packaging Inc. (NASDAQ:KRT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Karat Packaging Inc. (NASDAQ:KRT) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 116,000 shares, an increase of 13.0% from the March 15th total of 102,700 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 50,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Karat Packaging by 6.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in Karat Packaging by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 29,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,904 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Karat Packaging by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 46,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $922,000 after purchasing an additional 8,857 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Karat Packaging by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors Inc. now owns 404,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,020,000 after buying an additional 3,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Karat Packaging during the 1st quarter worth approximately $215,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 25.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KRT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Karat Packaging in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Karat Packaging from $24.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th.

Karat Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of KRT opened at $27.27 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $544.58 million, a PE ratio of 16.83 and a beta of 1.05. Karat Packaging has a 1 year low of $13.01 and a 1 year high of $30.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 3.49.

Karat Packaging (NASDAQ:KRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.16). Karat Packaging had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 22.54%. The firm had revenue of $95.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $95.51 million. On average, analysts predict that Karat Packaging will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Karat Packaging Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.40%. This is a positive change from Karat Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Karat Packaging’s payout ratio is presently 74.07%.

About Karat Packaging

Karat Packaging Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and distribution of single-use disposable products in plastic, paper, biopolymer-based, and other compostable forms used in various restaurant and foodservice settings. It provides food and take-out containers, bags, tableware, cups, lids, cutlery, straws, specialty beverage ingredients, equipment, gloves, and other products under the Karat Earth brand.