Short Interest in AstroNova, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALOT) Expands By 119.1%

AstroNova, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALOT) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 49,242 shares, a growth of 119.1% from the July 15th total of 22,476 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 127,420 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.4 days. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AstroNova

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALOT. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in AstroNova during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,864,000. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of AstroNova during the second quarter valued at $2,723,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor acquired a new position in shares of AstroNova during the second quarter valued at $1,016,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AstroNova during the second quarter valued at about $908,000. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in AstroNova in the second quarter worth about $542,000. 43.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AstroNova Stock Performance

Shares of ALOT stock traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $28.91. The stock had a trading volume of 251,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 106,637. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.68 million, a PE ratio of -160.60 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.73. AstroNova has a twelve month low of $6.96 and a twelve month high of $28.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

AstroNova (NASDAQ:ALOT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, June 8th. The business services provider reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.14. AstroNova had a negative net margin of 0.88% and a positive return on equity of 2.94%. The firm had revenue of $39.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.05) EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised AstroNova from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AstroNova in a report on Friday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Sell”.

AstroNova Company Profile

AstroNova, Inc is a global provider of precision graphic communications equipment and identification solutions. The company operates two primary business segments: the NovaTech division, which designs and manufactures high‐speed data acquisition, recording and analysis systems for industrial, power generation, oil and gas, aerospace and defense markets; and the AstroNova division, which offers digital color label printing and packaging solutions under brands such as QuickLabel and RTag. These products are engineered to support mission‐critical applications that require reliable data capture or product identification across complex supply chains.

Headquartered in West Warwick, Rhode Island, AstroNova traces its heritage to the development of ruggedized oscillographs and recording instruments for industrial clients.