Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (NYSE:LEG) Short Interest Down 11.4% in August

Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (NYSE:LEG) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,140,000 shares, a decline of 11.4% from the July 31st total of 9,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 6.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Srikanth Padmanabhan bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $12.06 per share, for a total transaction of $120,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 38,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $465,793.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Srikanth Padmanabhan bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $12.06 per share, with a total value of $120,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 38,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $465,793.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Benjamin Michael Burns purchased 3,850 shares of Leggett & Platt stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $12.20 per share, with a total value of $46,970.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,362 shares in the company, valued at $992,616.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Leggett & Platt

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LEG. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Leggett & Platt by 426.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,042,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,923,000 after purchasing an additional 11,373,507 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Leggett & Platt by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,996,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,107,000 after acquiring an additional 49,086 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Leggett & Platt by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,373,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,127,000 after acquiring an additional 262,145 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Leggett & Platt by 1,098.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,005,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,838,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Leggett & Platt by 1.0% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,284,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,601,000 after purchasing an additional 12,502 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.23% of the company’s stock.

Leggett & Platt Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Leggett & Platt stock opened at $12.64 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.90 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.53. The company has a fifty day moving average of $12.25 and a 200 day moving average of $14.73. Leggett & Platt has a fifty-two week low of $10.11 and a fifty-two week high of $28.53.

Leggett & Platt (NYSE:LEG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.29. Leggett & Platt had a positive return on equity of 12.65% and a negative net margin of 18.05%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Leggett & Platt will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leggett & Platt Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. Leggett & Platt’s payout ratio is -17.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LEG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Leggett & Platt from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Leggett & Platt from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Leggett & Platt from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.67.

About Leggett & Platt

Leggett & Platt, Incorporated designs, manufactures, and sells engineered components and products in the United States, Europe, China, Canada, Mexico, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Bedding Products; Specialized Products; and Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products. The company offers steel rods, drawn wires, specialty foam chemicals and additives, innersprings, specialty foam for use in bedding and furniture, private label finished mattresses, ready-to-assemble mattress foundations, static foundations, and adjustable beds, as well as machines for producing innersprings; industrial sewing and quilting machines; mattress-packaging; and glue-drying equipment for various industrial users of steel rod and wire, manufacturers of finished bedding, bedding brands and mattress retailers, E-commerce retailers, big box retailers, department stores, and home improvement centers.