Acacia Research Co. (NASDAQ:ACTG) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Acacia Research Co. (NASDAQ:ACTG) saw a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, an increase of 17.5% from the September 15th total of 910,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 338,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Acacia Research from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th.

Institutional Trading of Acacia Research

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Krilogy Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acacia Research by 73.0% during the second quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 813,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,073,000 after buying an additional 343,000 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Acacia Research by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,772,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,878,000 after purchasing an additional 233,759 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acacia Research by 392.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 142,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $712,000 after purchasing an additional 113,207 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Acacia Research in the first quarter valued at about $439,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acacia Research in the second quarter valued at about $354,000. Institutional investors own 86.69% of the company’s stock.

Acacia Research Price Performance

Shares of Acacia Research stock opened at $4.52 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 11.17, a quick ratio of 10.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $452.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56 and a beta of 0.52. Acacia Research has a 1-year low of $3.43 and a 1-year high of $5.74.

Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The business services provider reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $25.84 million for the quarter. Acacia Research had a net margin of 44.42% and a return on equity of 12.00%.

Acacia Research Company Profile

Acacia is a publicly traded (Nasdaq: ACTG) company that is focused on acquiring and operating businesses across the industrial, energy and technology sectors where it believes it can leverage its expertise, significant capital base, and deep industry relationships to drive value. Acacia evaluates opportunities based on the attractiveness of the underlying cash flows, without regard to a specific investment horizon.