Swiss National Bank Cuts Stake in Acushnet $GOLF

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Acushnet (NYSE:GOLF) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.10% of Acushnet worth $4,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Acushnet during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. KBC Group NV purchased a new stake in shares of Acushnet during the first quarter valued at $44,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Acushnet by 96.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acushnet during the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Acushnet by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. 53.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acushnet Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:GOLF opened at $78.1980 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.90. Acushnet has a 52-week low of $55.31 and a 52-week high of $84.40.

Acushnet (NYSE:GOLF) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.33 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $720.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $713.70 million. Acushnet had a return on equity of 28.05% and a net margin of 9.24%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Acushnet will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Acushnet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Acushnet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Holdings Corp. Misto sold 953,406 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.56, for a total value of $62,505,297.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 29,523,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,570,690.68. This trade represents a 3.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mary Louise Bohn sold 13,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.85, for a total value of $1,040,031.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 191,786 shares in the company, valued at $15,122,326.10. This trade represents a 6.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 53.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on GOLF. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Acushnet from $63.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Acushnet from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Compass Point cut Acushnet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Acushnet from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.33.

About Acushnet

Acushnet Holdings Corp. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes golf products in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, Korea, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Titleist Golf Balls, Titleist Golf Clubs, Titleist Golf Gear, and FootJoy Golf Wear.