Hillman Solutions Corp (NASDAQ:HLMN) Short Interest Up 47.9% in February

Hillman Solutions Corp (NASDAQ:HLMN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,490,000 shares, a growth of 47.9% from the February 13th total of 2,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 979,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on HLMN. William Blair cut shares of Hillman Solutions from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Hillman Solutions from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Hillman Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Hillman Solutions from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.60.

Hillman Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of HLMN stock traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $9.25. 868,469 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 959,544. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Hillman Solutions has a 52-week low of $8.43 and a 52-week high of $12.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.64 and a beta of 1.68.

Hillman Solutions (NASDAQ:HLMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.01). Hillman Solutions had a net margin of 1.17% and a return on equity of 8.79%. The business had revenue of $349.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $350.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Hillman Solutions will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Hillman Solutions by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 9,158,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,199,000 after purchasing an additional 509,016 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Hillman Solutions by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 8,876,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,452,000 after acquiring an additional 160,505 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Hillman Solutions by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 7,612,474 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,145,000 after acquiring an additional 130,273 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Hillman Solutions by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,419,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,521,000 after acquiring an additional 605,049 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hillman Solutions by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,753,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,203,000 after acquiring an additional 113,692 shares during the last quarter. 98.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hillman Solutions Company Profile

Founded in 1964 and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hillman is a leading North American provider of complete hardware solutions, delivered with industry best customer service to over 40,000 locations. Hillman designs innovative product and merchandising solutions for complex categories that deliver an outstanding customer experience to home improvement centers, mass merchants, national and regional hardware stores, pet supply stores, and OEM & Industrial customers.