Clarus Co. (NASDAQ:CLAR) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Clarus Co. (NASDAQ:CLAR) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,260,000 shares, a decrease of 9.2% from the March 15th total of 2,490,000 shares. Currently, 8.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 291,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CLAR shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Clarus to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $7.00 price target (down from $13.00) on shares of Clarus in a report on Thursday, January 4th. B. Riley cut their price target on shares of Clarus from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Clarus from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.75.

Institutional Trading of Clarus

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Clarus by 77.8% in the 1st quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,218,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,408,417 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Clarus by 3,616.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 624,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,863,000 after acquiring an additional 607,915 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Clarus by 270.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 745,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,841,000 after acquiring an additional 543,765 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Clarus by 348.7% during the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. now owns 463,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after buying an additional 360,583 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Clarus by 588.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 321,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,939,000 after buying an additional 274,868 shares during the period. 90.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Clarus Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Clarus stock opened at $6.18 on Wednesday. Clarus has a 12-month low of $4.77 and a 12-month high of $10.02. The stock has a market cap of $236.32 million, a PE ratio of -22.89 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $6.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.06.

Clarus (NASDAQ:CLAR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $76.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.45 million. Clarus had a negative net margin of 2.84% and a positive return on equity of 3.31%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Clarus will post 0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clarus Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 18th were given a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 15th. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Clarus’s dividend payout ratio is presently -37.04%.

Clarus Company Profile

Clarus Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes outdoor equipment and lifestyle products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Outdoor and Adventure. The Outdoor segment offers apparels, such as shells, insulation, midlayers, pants, and logowear; rock-climbing footwear and equipment, including carabiners, protection devices, harnesses, belay devices, helmets, and ice-climbing gears; technical backpacks and day packs; trekking poles; headlamps and lanterns; gloves and mittens; and skis, ski poles, ski skins, avalanche airbag systems, avalanche transceivers, shovels, and probes.