Educational Development Co. (NASDAQ:EDUC – Get Rating) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,300 shares, a decrease of 70.1% from the January 31st total of 24,400 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 18,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.4 days.
Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Educational Development by 80.9% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Educational Development during the second quarter valued at $161,000. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Educational Development by 575.5% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 15,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Needham Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Educational Development during the fourth quarter valued at $276,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.65% of the company’s stock.
Shares of NASDAQ:EDUC opened at $7.87 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $7.91. Educational Development has a fifty-two week low of $6.96 and a fifty-two week high of $19.50. The company has a market capitalization of $68.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 1.10.
Educational Development (NASDAQ:EDUC – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 6th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.10). Educational Development had a return on equity of 23.27% and a net margin of 6.38%. The company had revenue of $45.11 million for the quarter.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 18th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.08%. Educational Development’s dividend payout ratio is 33.33%.
Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Educational Development in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “strong-buy” rating for the company.
About Educational Development
Educational Development Corp. engages in the provision of educational children’s books. It operates through the Home Business and Publishing segments. The Home Business (Usborne Books & More or UBAM) segment sells books through independent consultants directly to customers by hosting home parties, through social media collaboration platforms on the internet, by hosting book fairs with school and public libraries.