Medifast, Inc. (NYSE:MED) Short Interest Update

Medifast, Inc. (NYSE:MED – Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,180,000 shares, an increase of 38.3% from the January 31st total of 853,300 shares. Currently, 11.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 163,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.2 days.

Insider Activity at Medifast

In related news, Director Jeffrey J. Brown bought 571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $116.11 per share, for a total transaction of $66,298.81. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 37,014 shares in the company, valued at $4,297,695.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Medifast by 6.9% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,134,513 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $364,532,000 after purchasing an additional 138,602 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Medifast by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,521,936 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $259,916,000 after acquiring an additional 22,630 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Medifast by 0.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 377,972 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $68,839,000 after acquiring an additional 3,404 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Medifast by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 290,807 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $33,545,000 after acquiring an additional 5,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Medifast by 11.3% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 242,499 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $43,774,000 after acquiring an additional 24,654 shares in the last quarter. 86.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Medifast Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of MED stock opened at $110.35 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.82. Medifast has a twelve month low of $96.00 and a twelve month high of $197.19.

Medifast Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 20th were paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 19th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.94%. Medifast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on MED. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Medifast from $106.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Medifast from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd.

About Medifast

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Medifast, Inc engages in the provision of healthy living products and programs. It offers the OPTAVIA brand, a lifestyle solution centered on developing new healthy habits through smaller, foundational changes called micro-habits. The firm’s product line includes bars, bites, pretzels, puffs, cereal crunch, drinks, hearty choices, oatmeal, pancakes, pudding, soft serve, shakes, smoothies, soft bakes, and soups.