Heartland Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF)

Heartland Advisors Inc. lowered its position in Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) by 75.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,820 shares of the company’s stock after selling 80,388 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Acushnet were worth $1,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Acushnet during the third quarter valued at $519,000. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in Acushnet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $518,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Acushnet by 2.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 441,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,118,000 after acquiring an additional 10,762 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in Acushnet by 152.6% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 36,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,338,000 after purchasing an additional 22,161 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Acushnet by 11.6% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 18,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.12% of the company’s stock.

Acushnet Trading Down 1.5 %

Acushnet stock opened at $67.37 on Friday. Acushnet Holdings Corp. has a one year low of $58.54 and a one year high of $76.65. The business’s fifty day moving average is $66.99 and its 200 day moving average is $67.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of 22.92 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Acushnet (NYSE:GOLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.31. Acushnet had a net margin of 7.78% and a return on equity of 21.45%. The firm had revenue of $445.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $454.83 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Acushnet Holdings Corp. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Acushnet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is a boost from Acushnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Acushnet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Acushnet from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Acushnet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Acushnet from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of Acushnet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $77.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.80.

Insider Transactions at Acushnet

In other Acushnet news, insider Steven Francis Pelisek sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.86, for a total transaction of $1,417,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,802,985.16. This represents a 17.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 54.60% of the company’s stock.

About Acushnet

Acushnet Holdings Corp. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes golf products in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, Korea, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Titleist Golf Balls, Titleist Golf Clubs, Titleist Golf Gear, and FootJoy Golf Wear.