Koninklijke Philips N.V. (NYSE:PHG) Short Interest Down 13.4% in March

Koninklijke Philips N.V. (NYSE:PHG) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 2,429,710 shares, a decline of 13.4% from the February 26th total of 2,806,886 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 918,921 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PHG has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Koninklijke Philips in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. They set a “sector perform” rating for the company. Zacks Research upgraded Koninklijke Philips from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Koninklijke Philips to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Koninklijke Philips from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Koninklijke Philips from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Koninklijke Philips Stock Performance

Shares of PHG opened at $26.55 on Tuesday. Koninklijke Philips has a 52-week low of $21.48 and a 52-week high of $33.44. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 0.77.

Koninklijke Philips (NYSE:PHG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.20. Koninklijke Philips had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 5.09%.The business had revenue of $5.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. Research analysts forecast that Koninklijke Philips will post 1.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Koninklijke Philips Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.013 per share. This is an increase from Koninklijke Philips’s previous annual dividend of $0.89. This represents a yield of 318.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 13th. Koninklijke Philips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.36%.

Institutional Trading of Koninklijke Philips

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PHG. Lido Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Koninklijke Philips by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 9,062 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Koninklijke Philips by 1.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 29,306 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $703,000 after buying an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Koninklijke Philips by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,759 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Koninklijke Philips by 3.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,592 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 439 shares during the period. Finally, Kitching Partners LLC grew its position in Koninklijke Philips by 4.2% during the second quarter. Kitching Partners LLC now owns 11,259 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. 13.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Koninklijke Philips

Koninklijke Philips N.V. (NYSE: PHG), commonly known as Philips, is a Dutch multinational company focused on health technology. Founded in Eindhoven in 1891, the company evolved from a diversified electronics manufacturer into a specialist in healthcare products, systems and services. Philips is legally registered in the Netherlands and operates globally, supplying equipment and solutions to hospitals, clinics, healthcare providers and consumers across Europe, the Americas and Asia.

Philips’ principal activities center on medical technologies and personal health.