Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ:FARM) Short Interest Update

Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ:FARM) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 74,700 shares, a growth of 36.8% from the December 15th total of 54,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 85,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.9 days. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Farmer Bros.

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FARM. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Farmer Bros. by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 559,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after buying an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Farmer Bros. by 4.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 367,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $986,000 after purchasing an additional 17,327 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Farmer Bros. by 5.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 209,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,000 after purchasing an additional 11,390 shares during the period. Sanders Morris Harris LLC increased its stake in shares of Farmer Bros. by 53.8% during the third quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC now owns 154,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 54,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Farmer Bros. by 58.3% during the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 19,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on FARM. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Farmer Bros. in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Roth Mkm cut their price target on Farmer Bros. from $6.00 to $4.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th.

Farmer Bros. Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FARM opened at $1.64 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.23. Farmer Bros. has a 12 month low of $1.60 and a 12 month high of $4.04.

Farmer Bros. (NASDAQ:FARM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.01). Farmer Bros. had a negative net margin of 2.20% and a negative return on equity of 35.41%. The firm had revenue of $85.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.06) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Farmer Bros. will post -0.62 EPS for the current year.

About Farmer Bros.

Farmer Bros. Co engages in the roasting, wholesale, equipment servicing, and distribution of coffee, tea, and other allied products in the United States. The company offers roast and ground coffee; frozen liquid coffee; flavoured and unflavoured iced and hot teas; culinary products, including spices, pancake and biscuit mixes, gravy and sauce mixes, soup bases, dressings, and syrups and sauces, as well as coffee filters, cups, sugar, and creamers; and other beverages comprising cappuccino, cocoa, granitas, and other blender-based beverages and concentrated and ready-to-drink cold brew and iced coffee.