Oil-Dri Corporation Of America (NYSE:ODC) Short Interest Up 74.0% in August

Oil-Dri Corporation Of America (NYSE:ODC) saw a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 654,754 shares, an increase of 74.0% from the July 30th total of 376,348 shares. Currently, 5.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 180,285 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ODC. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Oil-Dri Corporation Of America by 57.4% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 502 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Oil-Dri Corporation Of America during the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new position in Oil-Dri Corporation Of America in the 1st quarter worth approximately $54,000. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in Oil-Dri Corporation Of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Oil-Dri Corporation Of America by 20.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,062 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. 49.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ODC has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Oil-Dri Corporation Of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Oil-Dri Corporation Of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Oil-Dri Corporation Of America Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE ODC opened at $91.08 on Wednesday. Oil-Dri Corporation Of America has a 12 month low of $45.61 and a 12 month high of $107.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.41 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $96.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Oil-Dri Corporation Of America (NYSE:ODC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, June 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $126.33 million during the quarter. Oil-Dri Corporation Of America had a return on equity of 20.53% and a net margin of 11.35%.During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS.

About Oil-Dri Corporation Of America

Oil-Dri Corporation of America is a specialty materials company that develops, manufactures and markets sorbent and filtration products for industrial, environmental and consumer applications. Its flagship offerings include clay- and diatomaceous earth–based cat litters, calcium silicate absorbents for spill control and cleanup, and purification media designed to remove contaminants from petroleum, chemical and food-processing streams.

Founded in 1941 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the company has evolved from a single-product operation into a diversified provider of mineral- and chemical-based solutions.