Core & Main, Inc. (NYSE:CNM) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Core & Main, Inc. (NYSE:CNM) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,050,000 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the November 30th total of 12,310,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,480,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.3 days. Currently, 6.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CNM. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Core & Main from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Core & Main from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Core & Main from $38.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Core & Main from $52.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Core & Main from $57.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.10.

Core & Main Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNM opened at $50.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 2.14. Core & Main has a fifty-two week low of $37.22 and a fifty-two week high of $62.15. The stock has a market cap of $10.11 billion, a PE ratio of 23.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $48.07 and a 200-day moving average of $47.75.

Core & Main (NYSE:CNM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.04. Core & Main had a return on equity of 24.71% and a net margin of 5.71%. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Core & Main will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Stephen O. Leclair sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total value of $10,976,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,349 shares in the company, valued at $5,068,113.12. This trade represents a 68.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Margaret Newman sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total transaction of $828,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $650,237.25. The trade was a 56.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 290,000 shares of company stock worth $15,926,000. Company insiders own 3.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Core & Main

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Core & Main by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 508,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,889,000 after purchasing an additional 29,490 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Core & Main by 2.6% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,720,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,979,000 after buying an additional 44,282 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in Core & Main by 1,195,600.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 11,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,000 after acquiring an additional 11,956 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Core & Main in the 3rd quarter valued at about $774,000. Finally, South Street Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Core & Main during the 2nd quarter valued at about $8,427,000. Institutional investors own 94.19% of the company’s stock.

About Core & Main

Core & Main, Inc distributes water, wastewater, storm drainage, and fire protection products and related services to municipalities, private water companies, and professional contractors in the municipal, non-residential, and residential end markets in the United States. Its products portfolio include pipes, valves, hydrants, fittings, and other products and services; storm drainage products, such as corrugated piping systems, retention basins, inline drains, manholes, grates, geosynthetics, erosion control, and other related products; fire protection products, including fire protection pipes, and sprinkler heads and devices, as well as fabrication services; and meter products, such as smart meter products, meter sets, meter accessories, installation, software, and other services.