Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Monday.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on ESCA. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Escalade in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded Escalade from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Escalade presently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Escalade Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ ESCA opened at $17.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 4.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $243.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.96 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $15.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.86. Escalade has a 52-week low of $11.41 and a 52-week high of $18.61.

Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $62.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.55 million. Escalade had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 5.70%. Sell-side analysts expect that Escalade will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Escalade Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.1525 per share. This is an increase from Escalade’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.61 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 6th. Escalade’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.61%.

Institutional Trading of Escalade

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Escalade by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,000 after buying an additional 779 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Escalade by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 221,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,995,000 after buying an additional 878 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Escalade by 2.5% during the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 41,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $526,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Certior Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Escalade by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Certior Financial Group LLC now owns 12,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,000 after buying an additional 1,143 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Escalade by 13.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.22% of the company’s stock.

About Escalade

Escalade, Inc is a U.S.-based manufacturer and distributor of recreational equipment and specialty products for both consumer and commercial markets. Headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, the company operates through two principal business segments: Sporting Goods and Commercial Products. The Sporting Goods segment encompasses a diverse range of products such as hockey and lacrosse goal assemblies, fitness accessories, archery and hunting gear, and table tennis equipment. The Commercial Products segment focuses on seating solutions for restaurants, hospitality venues and other public spaces under the Top Seat brand, as well as storage, display products and industrial carts.

Within Sporting Goods, Escalade markets its products under proprietary brands including Bear® Archery, Gene St.