The Marcus Co. (NYSE:MCS) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

The Marcus Co. (NYSE:MCS) saw a significant drop in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,430,000 shares, a drop of 24.5% from the June 30th total of 3,220,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 858,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Currently, 10.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Versor Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of Marcus by 60.8% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 32,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 12,125 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Marcus by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 335,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,889,000 after buying an additional 71,189 shares in the last quarter. Gate City Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Marcus in the 4th quarter worth $11,669,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Marcus by 193.2% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Marcus by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 89,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 20,538 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MCS shares. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Marcus in a research report on Monday, May 6th. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Marcus from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th.

Marcus Stock Performance

Shares of Marcus stock traded up $0.37 on Friday, hitting $12.38. 416,196 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 579,613. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $398.08 million, a PE ratio of 51.58, a PEG ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 1.51. Marcus has a 1 year low of $9.56 and a 1 year high of $16.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43.

Marcus (NYSE:MCS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($0.38) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.38). The business had revenue of $138.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $141.88 million. Marcus had a net margin of 1.73% and a return on equity of 2.66%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Marcus will post 0.07 EPS for the current year.

Marcus Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. Marcus’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.67%.

About Marcus

The Marcus Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates movie theatres, and hotels and resorts in the United States. It operates a family entertainment center and multiscreen motion picture theatres under the Big Screen Bistro, Big Screen Bistro Express, BistroPlex, and Movie Tavern by Marcus brand names.