Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE:BURL) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE:BURL) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,010,000 shares, an increase of 5.8% from the October 15th total of 1,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 820,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 3.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Burlington Stores

In related news, Director Paul Sullivan sold 1,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.05, for a total value of $472,370.25. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,048,230.65. This represents a 18.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Burlington Stores

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in Burlington Stores by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,124,000 after acquiring an additional 1,851 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Burlington Stores in the third quarter worth $239,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Burlington Stores by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,074,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,582,000 after buying an additional 18,160 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc boosted its stake in shares of Burlington Stores by 86.9% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 32,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,672,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Burlington Stores by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 3,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter.

Burlington Stores Stock Performance

NYSE BURL traded up $2.20 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $274.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,018,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 886,168. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $260.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.64. Burlington Stores has a 12 month low of $133.09 and a 12 month high of $282.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Burlington Stores (NYSE:BURL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.25. Burlington Stores had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 47.43%. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Burlington Stores will post 7.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Burlington Stores from $284.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Burlington Stores in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Burlington Stores from $274.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Burlington Stores from $276.00 to $313.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Burlington Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $297.56.

Burlington Stores Company Profile

Burlington Stores, Inc operates as a retailer of branded merchandise in the United States. The company provides fashion-focused merchandise, including women's ready-to-wear apparel, menswear, youth apparel, footwear, accessories, toys, gifts, and coats, as well as baby, home, and beauty products.