The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) Short Interest Update

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 19,660,000 shares, a growth of 5.4% from the March 15th total of 18,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 12,560,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Sonia L. Coleman sold 1,857 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.92, for a total value of $226,405.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,400 shares in the company, valued at $536,448. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DIS. Trian Fund Management L.P. raised its stake in Walt Disney by 411.6% during the third quarter. Trian Fund Management L.P. now owns 32,868,307 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock valued at $2,663,976,000 after buying an additional 26,443,257 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walt Disney by 109,924.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,666,275 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock valued at $2,056,126,000 after buying an additional 23,644,765 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Walt Disney during the fourth quarter valued at $1,938,647,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Walt Disney by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 46,172,567 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock valued at $4,011,473,000 after buying an additional 5,499,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ValueAct Holdings L.P. purchased a new position in Walt Disney during the fourth quarter valued at $459,245,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on DIS. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $136.00 price target on shares of Walt Disney in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Walt Disney from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Walt Disney from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Walt Disney from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Walt Disney from $129.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Walt Disney has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $124.54.

Walt Disney Trading Down 0.8 %

DIS opened at $112.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $207.17 billion, a PE ratio of 69.72, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $113.86 and a 200-day moving average of $98.25. Walt Disney has a 52 week low of $78.73 and a 52 week high of $123.74.

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The entertainment giant reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $23.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.71 billion. Walt Disney had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 3.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Walt Disney will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walt Disney Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 8th. Walt Disney’s payout ratio is 18.52%.

Walt Disney Company Profile

The Walt Disney Company operates as an entertainment company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Entertainment, Sports, and Experiences. The company produces and distributes film and television video streaming content under the ABC Television Network, Disney, Freeform, FX, Fox, National Geographic, and Star brand television channels, as well as ABC television stations and A+E television networks; and produces original content under the ABC Signature, Disney Branded Television, FX Productions, Lucasfilm, Marvel, National Geographic Studios, Pixar, Searchlight Pictures, Twentieth Century Studios, 20th Television, and Walt Disney Pictures banners.