Crown Crafts, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWS) Short Interest Up 74.5% in July

Crown Crafts, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWS) saw a large growth in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 29,866 shares, a growth of 74.5% from the July 15th total of 17,112 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 51,691 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.6 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Crown Crafts in the second quarter valued at about $1,896,838,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Crafts in the second quarter worth about $141,362,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Crown Crafts in the second quarter worth about $97,640,000. De Lisle Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Crafts in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,178,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Crown Crafts by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 257,342 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $663,000 after purchasing an additional 18,800 shares in the last quarter. 30.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Crown Crafts Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CRWS traded up $0.03 on Tuesday, hitting $2.98. The company had a trading volume of 74,232 shares, compared to its average volume of 44,823. The stock has a market cap of $32.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.33 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $2.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.85. Crown Crafts has a 1-year low of $2.35 and a 1-year high of $3.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Crown Crafts (NASDAQ:CRWS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The textile maker reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.05. Crown Crafts had a return on equity of 12.79% and a net margin of 5.99%.The company had revenue of $16.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.90 million.

Crown Crafts Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Crown Crafts’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised Crown Crafts from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold”.

About Crown Crafts

Crown Crafts, Inc (NASDAQ: CRWS) is a U.S.-based designer, marketer and distributor of infant, toddler and juvenile consumer products. The company develops a wide range of softlines and related accessories, including crib and toddler bedding, blankets, decorative pillows, bath towels and washcloths. Since its founding in 1957, Crown Crafts has focused on combining creative design with functional quality to meet the shifting preferences of young families and caregivers.

The company operates two primary business segments.