Short Interest in Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) Declines By 16.4%

Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,030,000 shares, a decrease of 16.4% from the March 31st total of 4,820,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Tyson Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TSN opened at $60.63 on Friday. Tyson Foods has a fifty-two week low of $44.94 and a fifty-two week high of $63.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.92. The company has a market capitalization of $21.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.49.

Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $13.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.34 billion. Tyson Foods had a negative net margin of 1.62% and a positive return on equity of 2.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Tyson Foods will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Tyson Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Tyson Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -79.35%.

Insider Transactions at Tyson Foods

In other news, Director Noel W. White sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.75, for a total transaction of $483,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,115 shares in the company, valued at $1,672,431.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tyson Foods

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tyson Foods by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 25,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in shares of Tyson Foods by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tyson Foods by 42.0% during the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Tyson Foods by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Tyson Foods by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Tyson Foods from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $69.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Tyson Foods from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Tyson Foods from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Tyson Foods from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Tyson Foods from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tyson Foods currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.80.

About Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a food company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Beef, Pork, Chicken, and Prepared Foods. The company processes live fed cattle and hogs; fabricates dressed beef and pork carcasses into primal and sub-primal meat cuts, as well as case ready beef and pork, and fully cooked meats; raises and processes chickens into fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken products, including breaded chicken strips, nuggets, patties, and other ready-to-fix or fully cooked chicken parts; and supplies poultry breeding stock.