Short Interest in AstroNova, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALOT) Increases By 119.1%

AstroNova, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALOT) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 49,242 shares, an increase of 119.1% from the July 15th total of 22,476 shares. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 127,420 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AstroNova

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALOT. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of AstroNova during the second quarter valued at $908,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of AstroNova in the second quarter worth $257,000. CM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AstroNova in the second quarter valued at $383,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in AstroNova in the second quarter valued at $2,864,000. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new position in AstroNova during the 2nd quarter worth $78,000. 43.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on ALOT shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AstroNova in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AstroNova from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Sell”.

AstroNova Stock Performance

Shares of ALOT stock opened at $28.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -160.60 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.73. AstroNova has a 12 month low of $6.96 and a 12 month high of $28.99.

AstroNova (NASDAQ:ALOT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, June 8th. The business services provider reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.14. AstroNova had a positive return on equity of 2.94% and a negative net margin of 0.88%.The company had revenue of $39.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.05) earnings per share.

About AstroNova

AstroNova, Inc is a global provider of precision graphic communications equipment and identification solutions. The company operates two primary business segments: the NovaTech division, which designs and manufactures high‐speed data acquisition, recording and analysis systems for industrial, power generation, oil and gas, aerospace and defense markets; and the AstroNova division, which offers digital color label printing and packaging solutions under brands such as QuickLabel and RTag. These products are engineered to support mission‐critical applications that require reliable data capture or product identification across complex supply chains.

Headquartered in West Warwick, Rhode Island, AstroNova traces its heritage to the development of ruggedized oscillographs and recording instruments for industrial clients.