Franchise Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRG) saw a significant increase in short-term interest in December. As of December 15, there was short interest totaling 932,300 shares, an increase of 21.3% from the total of 768,700 shares as of November 30. About 3.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume of 204,800 shares, the day-to-coverage ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Several institutional investors have recently increased or reduced their holdings in FRG. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Franchise Group shares by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,216,791 shares of the company valued at $ 78,186,000 after acquiring an additional 241,948 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Franchise Group shares by 53.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 645,603 shares of the company valued at $ 23,005,000 after acquiring an additional 224,180 shares during the period. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Franchise Group shares by 33.9% in the 2nd quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 733,415 shares of the company valued at $ 25,868,000 after acquiring an additional 185,804 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Franchise Group shares during the second quarter valued at approximately $ 5,839,000. Finally, Capital Management Corp VA purchased a new equity stake in Franchise Group in the 3rd quarter for a value of approximately $ 5,550,000. 73.06% of the shares are currently held by institutional investors and hedge funds.

The RFA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barrington Research raised its price target for Franchise Group shares from $ 58.00 to $ 65.00 and gave the company an “outperformance” rating in a research report published on Wednesday, December 8. Aegis raised its price target on Franchise Group shares from $ 50.00 to $ 61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 23. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Franchise Group shares from a “strong buy” rating to a “conservation” rating in a research report released on Monday, December 6. Finally, B. Riley raised his target price on Franchise Group shares from $ 58.00 to $ 65.00 and assigned the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 23. One investment analyst rated the stock with a conservation rating and five gave the stock a buy rating. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $ 56.33.

FRG stock traded down $ 0.03 in Friday’s session, reaching $ 52.95. 4,729 shares were traded, for an average volume of 174,279. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt ratio of 1.68. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $ 48.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $ 40.17. Franchise Group has a one-year minimum of $ 30.39 and a one-year maximum of $ 55.10. The company has a market cap of $ 2.13 billion, a price / earnings ratio of 10.55, a P / E / G ratio of 0.91, and a beta of 1.81.

Franchise Group (NASDAQ: FRG) last released its results on Tuesday, November 2. The company reported EPS of $ 0.97 for the quarter, beating analyst consensus estimates of $ 0.80 by $ 0.17. Franchise Group had a net margin of 7.56% and a return on equity of 25.25%. The company posted revenue of $ 828.83 million for the quarter, compared to a consensus estimate of $ 799.24 million. During the same period of the previous year, the company achieved earnings per share ($ 0.22). On average, research analysts predict that Franchise Group will post 3.81 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, January 15. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 31 will receive a dividend of $ 0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 30. This is an increase from the Franchise Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $ 0.38. This represents a dividend of $ 2.50 on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.72%. The Franchise Group’s payout rate is 49.80%.

About the franchise group

Franchise Group, Inc. is a holding company that provides tax return preparation services and related products and services. It operates through the following segments: Vitamin Shoppe, American Freight, Liberty Tax and Buddy’s. The Vitamin Shoppe segment is an omnichannel specialty retailer of vitamins, herbs, specialty supplements, sports nutrition and other health and wellness products.

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