Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ:FARM) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ:FARM) saw a large drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 52,800 shares, a drop of 8.3% from the August 15th total of 57,600 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 45,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on FARM. StockNews.com lowered Farmer Bros. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Roth Mkm decreased their price target on Farmer Bros. from $6.00 to $4.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Craig Hallum began coverage on Farmer Bros. in a research note on Monday, June 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $6.00 price target on the stock.

Farmer Bros. Trading Down 3.2 %

FARM stock opened at $2.13 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $45.29 million, a P/E ratio of -0.93 and a beta of 1.79. Farmer Bros. has a twelve month low of $2.10 and a twelve month high of $4.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a fifty day moving average of $2.66 and a 200-day moving average of $2.96.

Farmer Bros. (NASDAQ:FARM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22). The company had revenue of $84.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.30 million. Farmer Bros. had a negative return on equity of 58.82% and a negative net margin of 13.46%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.84) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Farmer Bros. will post -0.66 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Farmer Bros.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanders Morris Harris LLC acquired a new position in Farmer Bros. in the first quarter valued at about $250,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Farmer Bros. by 8.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 824,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,944,000 after buying an additional 65,277 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Farmer Bros. by 4.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 367,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $986,000 after buying an additional 17,327 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Farmer Bros. by 1.4% in the second 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 64.48% of the company’s stock.

Farmer Bros. Company Profile

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.