Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (NYSE:LEG) Short Interest Update

Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (NYSE:LEG) was the target of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,010,000 shares, an increase of 13.3% from the December 15th total of 4,420,000 shares. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,780,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on LEG. Piper Sandler raised Leggett & Platt from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Leggett & Platt from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Leggett & Platt has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.67.

Institutional Trading of Leggett & Platt

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Choreo LLC bought a new position in Leggett & Platt in the second quarter valued at about $160,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Leggett & Platt by 20.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 23,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 4,092 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Leggett & Platt during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $995,000. Bridges Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Leggett & Platt by 13.3% during the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 3,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Leggett & Platt by 426.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,042,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,923,000 after buying an additional 11,373,507 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.23% of the company’s stock.

Leggett & Platt Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE LEG opened at $10.65 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.02. Leggett & Platt has a one year low of $9.18 and a one year high of $24.30. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of -1.77 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Leggett & Platt (NYSE:LEG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). Leggett & Platt had a positive return on equity of 14.99% and a negative net margin of 18.53%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. Leggett & Platt’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Leggett & Platt will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leggett & Platt Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Leggett & Platt’s payout ratio is -3.33%.

About Leggett & Platt

Leggett & Platt, Incorporated designs, manufactures, and sells engineered components and products in the United States, Europe, China, Canada, Mexico, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Bedding Products; Specialized Products; and Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products. The company offers steel rods, drawn wires, specialty foam chemicals and additives, innersprings, specialty foam for use in bedding and furniture, private label finished mattresses, ready-to-assemble mattress foundations, static foundations, and adjustable beds, as well as machines for producing innersprings; industrial sewing and quilting machines; mattress-packaging; and glue-drying equipment for various industrial users of steel rod and wire, manufacturers of finished bedding, bedding brands and mattress retailers, E-commerce retailers, big box retailers, department stores, and home improvement centers.