Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Escalade from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Escalade in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Escalade presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Escalade Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of ESCA opened at $14.10 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $13.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 3.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Escalade has a twelve month low of $11.41 and a twelve month high of $16.99. The stock has a market cap of $194.58 million, a PE ratio of 15.49 and a beta of 0.69.

Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.09. Escalade had a net margin of 5.26% and a return on equity of 7.49%. The business had revenue of $67.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.83 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Escalade will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Escalade news, Director Richard Fenton Baalmann, Jr. sold 5,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.00, for a total value of $71,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 100,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,305,122. This represents a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Stephen Wawrin sold 2,000 shares of Escalade stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.00, for a total transaction of $26,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 41,000 shares in the company, valued at $533,000. This trade represents a 4.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $156,100 in the last 90 days. 28.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Minerva Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Escalade by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Minerva Advisors LLC now owns 550,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,916,000 after acquiring an additional 12,378 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Escalade by 2.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 221,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,096,000 after purchasing an additional 4,455 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Escalade by 2.5% in the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 41,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Escalade by 120.1% in the third quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 27,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 15,231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Escalade by 8.0% in the third quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 22,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 1,676 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.22% of the company’s stock.

About Escalade

Escalade, Inc is a U.S.-based manufacturer and distributor of recreational equipment and specialty products for both consumer and commercial markets. Headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, the company operates through two principal business segments: Sporting Goods and Commercial Products. The Sporting Goods segment encompasses a diverse range of products such as hockey and lacrosse goal assemblies, fitness accessories, archery and hunting gear, and table tennis equipment. The Commercial Products segment focuses on seating solutions for restaurants, hospitality venues and other public spaces under the Top Seat brand, as well as storage, display products and industrial carts.

Within Sporting Goods, Escalade markets its products under proprietary brands including Bear® Archery, Gene St.