Short Interest in Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) Drops By 5.8%

Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 10,630,000 shares, a decline of 5.8% from the September 15th total of 11,290,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,390,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days. Currently, 9.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Nordstrom Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JWN traded up $0.36 on Wednesday, hitting $24.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,412,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,210,716. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.40. Nordstrom has a 1 year low of $12.88 and a 1 year high of $24.82. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34 and a beta of 2.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.88 billion. Nordstrom had a negative return on equity of 21.26% and a negative net margin of 1.44%. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nordstrom will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nordstrom Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Nordstrom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on JWN. Barclays upgraded Nordstrom from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $23.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on Nordstrom from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Nordstrom from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of America upped their price target on Nordstrom from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Nordstrom from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Alexis Depree sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $464,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 169,331 shares in the company, valued at $3,928,479.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.78% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nordstrom

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of JWN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Nordstrom by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,653,007 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $215,936,000 after acquiring an additional 579,001 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Nordstrom by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,371,988 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $71,554,000 after acquiring an additional 57,546 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Nordstrom by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,136,639 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $66,557,000 after acquiring an additional 137,094 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Nordstrom by 66.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,661,227 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $35,251,000 after acquiring an additional 661,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Nordstrom by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,479,414 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,393,000 after acquiring an additional 410,152 shares during the last quarter. 88.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Nordstrom

Nordstrom, Inc, a fashion retailer, provides apparels, shoes, beauty, accessories, and home goods for women, men, young adults, and children. It offers a range of brand-name and private-label merchandise through various channels, such as Nordstrom branded stores and online at Nordstrom.com; Nordstrom.ca; Nordstrom stores; Nordstrom Rack stores; Nordstrom Locals; ASOS; Nordstromrack.com; mobile application; and clearance stores under the Last Chance name.