Shaw Communications Inc. (NYSE:SJR) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Shaw Communications Inc. (NYSE:SJR – Get Rating) (TSE:SJR.B) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,520,000 shares, a drop of 23.3% from the March 31st total of 12,420,000 shares. Currently, 2.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 336,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 28.3 days.

Several equities analysts have commented on SJR shares. CIBC raised their price objective on Shaw Communications from C$27.00 to C$40.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 25th. StockNews.com raised Shaw Communications from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. Zacks Investment Research lowered Shaw Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $32.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 19th. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered Shaw Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Shaw Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.67.

Shares of NYSE:SJR opened at $29.78 on Monday. Shaw Communications has a 1-year low of $27.72 and a 1-year high of $31.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $30.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.81. The company has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a PE ratio of 18.85 and a beta of 0.67.

Shaw Communications (NYSE:SJR – Get Rating) (TSE:SJR.B) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 13th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.02). Shaw Communications had a return on equity of 16.57% and a net margin of 18.19%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.34 earnings per share. Shaw Communications’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Shaw Communications will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Shaw Communications by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 821 shares during the period. BCK Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Shaw Communications by 126.3% during the 3rd quarter. BCK Capital Management LP now owns 89,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,586,000 after purchasing an additional 49,700 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of Shaw Communications by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 9,836,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,944,000 after purchasing an additional 2,633,262 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Shaw Communications by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 44,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 8,385 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Shaw Communications by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,269,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,531,000 after purchasing an additional 53,425 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.58% of the company’s stock.

Shaw Communications Company Profile (Get Rating)

Shaw Communications Inc operates as a connectivity company in North America. The company operates through Wireline and Wireless segments. The company's Wireline segment provides cable telecommunications services, including video, Internet, WiFi, phone, satellite video, and data networking through a national fibre-optic backbone network to Canadian consumers, North American businesses, and public-sector entities.

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