Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK) Short Interest Update

Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK) saw a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,596,900 shares, a decline of 37.5% from the February 26th total of 2,556,659 shares. Approximately 6.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 355,910 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shutterstock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SSTK. Alpine Associates Management Inc. boosted its stake in Shutterstock by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. now owns 902,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,816,000 after purchasing an additional 171,375 shares during the last quarter. Callodine Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Shutterstock in the second quarter worth approximately $7,835,000. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Shutterstock by 382.6% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 49,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 39,094 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in shares of Shutterstock in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,022,000. Finally, Villanova Investment Management Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Shutterstock by 209.3% in the second quarter. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC now owns 81,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,537,000 after purchasing an additional 54,858 shares in the last quarter. 82.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Shutterstock Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE SSTK traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $16.11. 141,508 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 316,768. The company has a market cap of $572.66 million, a PE ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 1.23. Shutterstock has a one year low of $14.35 and a one year high of $29.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $17.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The business services provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.38). Shutterstock had a return on equity of 16.13% and a net margin of 4.60%.The firm had revenue of $220.22 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $252.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. Shutterstock’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Shutterstock will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

Shutterstock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.9%. This is a positive change from Shutterstock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Shutterstock’s payout ratio is 111.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on SSTK shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Shutterstock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Shutterstock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

About Shutterstock

Shutterstock, Inc (NYSE:SSTK) operates a leading global creative platform that provides royalty-free stock content to businesses, marketing agencies and media outlets. Its primary offerings include high-resolution photographs, vector graphics, illustrations, video footage and music tracks, all available through subscription plans or on-demand licensing. The platform also features customizable design tools and collaborative workspaces that enable customers to create and manage visual content more efficiently.

Founded in 2003 by Jon Oringer, Shutterstock began as an online marketplace offering a modest selection of images and quickly scaled its library to hundreds of millions of assets.