ABM Industries Incorporated (NYSE:ABM) Short Interest Update

ABM Industries Incorporated (NYSE:ABM) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a growth of 28.3% from the December 15th total of 1,200,000 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 378,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Dean A. Chin sold 4,281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.36, for a total value of $224,153.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 18,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $978,137.16. This represents a 18.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ABM Industries

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Adirondack Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of ABM Industries by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 900 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. lifted its holdings in shares of ABM Industries by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 16,449 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 2,210 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ABM Industries in the fourth quarter worth $392,000. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its position in shares of ABM Industries by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 10,682 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 2,614 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ABM Industries by 4.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 327,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,286,000 after buying an additional 15,438 shares in the last quarter. 91.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, UBS Group upped their target price on ABM Industries from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

ABM Industries Price Performance

NYSE ABM traded down $0.23 on Friday, reaching $53.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 204,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 404,666. ABM Industries has a twelve month low of $39.64 and a twelve month high of $59.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.50. The stock has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 41.84, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.16.

ABM Industries (NYSE:ABM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The business services provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. ABM Industries had a net margin of 0.97% and a return on equity of 12.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ABM Industries will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

ABM Industries Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. This is a boost from ABM Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. ABM Industries’s payout ratio is presently 83.47%.

ABM Industries Company Profile

ABM Industries Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of integrated facility, infrastructure, and mobility solutions in the United States and internationally. It operates through Business & Industry, Manufacturing & Distribution, Education, Aviation, and Technical Solutions segments.