Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT) Short Interest Up 8.3% in July

Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT) was the target of a large increase in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,410,000 shares, an increase of 8.3% from the June 30th total of 3,150,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 648,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Insider Activity at Avnet

In related news, Director Carlo Bozotti sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.40, for a total value of $489,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $629,843.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Avnet news, CEO Philip R. Gallagher sold 19,532 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.63, for a total value of $1,008,437.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 140,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,269,090.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Carlo Bozotti sold 9,000 shares of Avnet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.40, for a total transaction of $489,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,578 shares in the company, valued at $629,843.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,532 shares of company stock worth $3,544,957. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lind Value II ApS bought a new stake in Avnet during the second quarter worth $62,394,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Avnet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,065,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avnet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,601,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avnet by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,950,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $542,918,000 after purchasing an additional 519,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Avnet by 584.1% during the 1st quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 320,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,915,000 after purchasing an additional 274,071 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.78% of the company’s stock.

Avnet Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ AVT traded up $0.60 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $53.76. 577,234 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 602,840. The firm has a market cap of $4.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $52.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Avnet has a fifty-two week low of $42.67 and a fifty-two week high of $55.46.

Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $5.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.71 billion. Avnet had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 11.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.00 EPS. Analysts predict that Avnet will post 5.06 EPS for the current year.

Avnet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 5th. Avnet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Avnet from $49.00 to $48.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

Avnet Company Profile

Avnet, Inc, distributes electronic component technology. The company operates through two segments, Electronic Components and Farnell. The Electronic Components segment markets, sells, and distributes semiconductors; interconnect, passive, and electromechanical components; and other integrated components from electronic component manufacturers.