Short Interest in Graham Holdings (NYSE:GHC) Increases By 6.8%

Graham Holdings (NYSE:GHC) saw a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 54,800 shares, an increase of 6.8% from the September 30th total of 51,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 13,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graham

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Graham by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 371,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,990,000 after acquiring an additional 20,629 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Graham by 80.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 20,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,067,000 after purchasing an additional 8,953 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graham in the 1st quarter valued at $6,230,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Graham by 31.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 30,332 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,219,000 after purchasing an additional 7,179 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Graham in the 1st quarter worth about $5,256,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.54% of the company’s stock.

Graham Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GHC traded down $3.41 during trading on Friday, hitting $839.89. 4,054 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,075. Graham has a 1 year low of $576.29 and a 1 year high of $851.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $791.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $753.88. The company has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.43 and a beta of 1.11.

Graham (NYSE:GHC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $12.70 earnings per share for the quarter. Graham had a net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter.

Graham Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.72 per share. This represents a $6.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 17th. Graham’s payout ratio is currently 13.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Graham from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th.

Graham Company Profile

Graham Holdings Company, through its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified education and media company in the United States and internationally. It provides test preparation services and materials; professional training and exam preparation for professional certifications and licensures; and non-academic operations support services to the Purdue University Global; operations support services for online courses and programs; training and test preparation services for accounting and financial services professionals; English-language training, academic preparation programs, and test preparation for English proficiency exams; and A-level examination preparation services, as well as operates colleges, business school, higher education institution, and an online learning institution.