Franklin Covey (NYSE:FC) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE:FC) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Barrington Research lowered their price target on the stock from $55.00 to $45.00. The stock had previously closed at $38.30, but opened at $35.66. Barrington Research currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Franklin Covey shares last traded at $37.78, with a volume of 78,593 shares trading hands.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on FC. Roth Mkm reduced their target price on shares of Franklin Covey from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Franklin Covey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Franklin Covey

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bares Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Franklin Covey by 48.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 406,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,754,000 after purchasing an additional 133,401 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Franklin Covey by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,140,802 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,830,000 after purchasing an additional 87,758 shares during the last quarter. Blue Grotto Capital LLC lifted its stake in Franklin Covey by 52.2% in the 1st quarter. Blue Grotto Capital LLC now owns 200,202 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,053,000 after purchasing an additional 68,685 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Franklin Covey in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,082,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Franklin Covey by 1,165.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 68,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,936,000 after acquiring an additional 62,996 shares during the period. 69.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Franklin Covey Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $509.41 million, a P/E ratio of 29.06, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.07.

Franklin Covey (NYSE:FC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 4th. The business services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.17. Franklin Covey had a net margin of 6.43% and a return on equity of 22.81%. The firm had revenue of $68.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.88 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Franklin Covey Co. will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

About Franklin Covey

Franklin Covey Co provides training and consulting services in the areas of execution, sales performance, productivity, customer loyalty, and educational improvement for organizations and individuals worldwide. The company operates through Direct Offices, International Licensees, and Education Practice segments.