Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) Short Interest Update

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,350,000 shares, an increase of 42.8% from the February 29th total of 945,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 548,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Insider Activity

In other Broadridge Financial Solutions news, Director Robert N. Duelks sold 830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.58, for a total value of $167,311.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,445 shares in the company, valued at $1,097,603.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Broadridge Financial Solutions news, Director Robert N. Duelks sold 830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.58, for a total transaction of $167,311.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,097,603.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Douglas Richard Deschutter sold 22,722 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.00, for a total transaction of $4,521,678.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 44,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,891,320. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,483 shares of company stock worth $9,745,637. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Broadridge Financial Solutions by 10.7% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its holdings in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 15,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,433,000 after buying an additional 992 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in Broadridge Financial Solutions by 126.2% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 3,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $527,000 after acquiring an additional 1,888 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Broadridge Financial Solutions by 1,851.9% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 527 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Broadridge Financial Solutions by 13.2% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 12,722 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,981,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487 shares in the last quarter. 90.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James boosted their price target on Broadridge Financial Solutions from $205.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Broadridge Financial Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 8th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from $212.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Broadridge Financial Solutions presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $203.17.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BR traded up $1.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $204.86. The company had a trading volume of 368,236 shares, compared to its average volume of 407,906. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. Broadridge Financial Solutions has a twelve month low of $139.35 and a twelve month high of $210.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $201.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.13 billion, a PE ratio of 35.69 and a beta of 0.99.

Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The business services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Broadridge Financial Solutions had a net margin of 10.82% and a return on equity of 41.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Broadridge Financial Solutions will post 7.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Broadridge Financial Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.75%.

About Broadridge Financial Solutions

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc provides investor communications and technology-driven solutions for the financial services industry. The company's Investor Communication Solutions segment processes and distributes proxy materials to investors in equity securities and mutual funds, as well as facilitates related vote processing services; and distributes regulatory reports, class action, and corporate action/reorganization event information, as well as tax reporting solutions.