Short Interest in Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT) Declines By 12.0%

Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,780,000 shares, a drop of 12.0% from the March 31st total of 3,160,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 596,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Avnet from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avnet by 330.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Avnet by 44.3% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 702 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avnet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $597,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Avnet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $260,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Avnet by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 75,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.78% of the company’s stock.

Avnet Stock Performance

Shares of AVT stock traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $50.78. 192,173 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 564,417. The company has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.24. Avnet has a 1 year low of $40.00 and a 1 year high of $51.65. The company’s 50 day moving average is $47.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.01. Avnet had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The business had revenue of $6.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.00 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Avnet will post 5.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avnet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. Avnet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.13%.

About Avnet

Avnet, Inc, distributes electronic component technology. The company operates through two segments, Electronic Components and Farnell. The Electronic Components segment markets, sells, and distributes semiconductors; interconnect, passive, and electromechanical components; and other integrated components from electronic component manufacturers.