Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) Share Price Breaks Below 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Escalade, Incorporated (NASDAQ:ESCA)’s share price passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $19.06 and traded as low as $18.52. Escalade shares last traded at $19.26, with a volume of 23,335 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESCA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Escalade from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Escalade from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Strong Buy”.

Escalade Price Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $20.22 and a 200 day moving average of $19.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 0.52.

Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.52. Escalade had a return on equity of 13.11% and a net margin of 9.46%.The firm had revenue of $57.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.60 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Escalade, Incorporated will post 1.56 EPS for the current year.

Escalade Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.1525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $0.61 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Escalade’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.53%.

Insider Activity at Escalade

In other Escalade news, CFO Stephen Wawrin sold 3,177 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.40, for a total value of $67,987.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 45,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $963,000. This represents a 6.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard Baalmann, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.27, for a total transaction of $111,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 97,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,177,872.38. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,227 shares of company stock worth $872,743. 33.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Escalade

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Escalade in the second quarter valued at about $1,720,000. De Lisle Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Escalade in the second quarter worth about $1,204,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Escalade during the second quarter worth about $9,851,000. Northstar Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Escalade during the second quarter worth about $1,136,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Escalade during the 2nd quarter valued at about $156,000. Institutional investors own 65.22% of the company’s stock.

About Escalade

Escalade, Incorporated is a sporting goods company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana. The company designs, manufactures and distributes products for recreational and competitive sports, serving consumers, schools, commercial venues and other organizations.

Its product portfolio includes table tennis equipment, pickleball paddles and accessories, dartboards and darting equipment, basketball goals, game tables, indoor and outdoor recreation products, and related sporting goods. Escalade markets products under several brands, including STIGA for table tennis and ONIX for pickleball, along with additional brands serving the darting, basketball and game-room categories.

The company sells its products through sporting goods retailers, specialty dealers, mass merchants, e-commerce channels and institutional customers.