Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR) Shares Down 6.7% After Earnings Miss

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR)’s share price traded down 6.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as low as $42.11 and last traded at $43.22. 90,671 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 150,330 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.33.

The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.44). The business had revenue of $136.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $153.40 million. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 14.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. This is a boost from Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 33.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Christopher John Killoy sold 554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $26,038.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 49,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,309,815. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 7,388 shares of company stock valued at $340,018 in the last 90 days. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 1,888.1% in the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 167,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,750,000 after purchasing an additional 159,492 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 102.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 97,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,062,000 after acquiring an additional 49,181 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,032,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,399,000 after purchasing an additional 35,815 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 487.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 32,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,471,000 after purchasing an additional 26,859 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its stake in Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 19.7% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 147,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,693,000 after purchasing an additional 24,251 shares in the last quarter. 64.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Stock Down 6.9 %

The company has a market capitalization of $761.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86 and a beta of 0.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.36.

About Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells firearms under the Ruger name and trademark in the United States. The company operates through two segments: Firearms and Castings. It provides single-shot, autoloading, bolt-action, and modern sporting rifles; rimfire and centerfire autoloading pistols; single-action and double-action revolvers; and firearms accessories and replacement parts, as well as manufactures lever-action rifles under the Marlin name and trademark.