Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 51,797 Shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASO)

Bridgewater Associates LP lowered its position in Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASO) by 62.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 30,516 shares of the company’s stock after selling 51,797 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Academy Sports and Outdoors were worth $1,781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors by 15.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,739,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $626,755,000 after acquiring an additional 1,422,971 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors during the second quarter worth approximately $174,054,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors by 19.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,969,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $158,147,000 after acquiring an additional 481,640 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors by 4.2% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,721,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,683,000 after acquiring an additional 69,700 shares during the period. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors by 1.9% during the second quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,613,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,903,000 after acquiring an additional 29,912 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ASO. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $53.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $60.00 in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.57.

Academy Sports and Outdoors Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:ASO opened at $49.25 on Monday. Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.73 and a 12 month high of $75.73. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.60, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.37.

Academy Sports and Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 10th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Academy Sports and Outdoors had a net margin of 7.98% and a return on equity of 25.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. will post 6.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Academy Sports and Outdoors Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Academy Sports and Outdoors’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Academy Sports and Outdoors

In other news, Director Jeffrey C. Tweedy sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total transaction of $74,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $552,172. The trade was a 11.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Academy Sports and Outdoors Company Profile

Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a sporting goods and outdoor recreational retailer in the United States. The company outdoor division comprises camping products, such as coolers and drinkware, and camping accessories and equipment,; fishing products, including marine equipment and fishing rods, reels, and baits and equipment; and hunting products, which includes firearms, ammunition, archery and archery equipment, camouflage apparel, waders, shooting accessories, gun safes, optics, airguns, and hunting equipment.