Park Aerospace (NYSE:PKE) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Park Aerospace Corp. (NYSE:PKE)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $36.90, but opened at $35.36. Park Aerospace shares last traded at $34.64, with a volume of 11,405 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on PKE. Wall Street Zen downgraded Park Aerospace from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Park Aerospace in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Park Aerospace in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Park Aerospace from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Citizens Jmp started coverage on shares of Park Aerospace in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. They set a “market outperform” rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Park Aerospace currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $42.50.

Park Aerospace Trading Down 1.5%

The firm has a market cap of $761.03 million, a P/E ratio of 55.54 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.73.

Park Aerospace (NYSE:PKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The semiconductor company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. Park Aerospace had a return on equity of 10.75% and a net margin of 16.70%.The business had revenue of $18.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.95 million.

Park Aerospace Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. Park Aerospace’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Constantine Petropoulos sold 2,500 shares of Park Aerospace stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $90,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Park Aerospace

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank raised its position in shares of Park Aerospace by 583.4% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 36,806 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $785,000 after purchasing an additional 31,420 shares during the period. Illumine Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Park Aerospace during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,122,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Park Aerospace during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,011,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Park Aerospace during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,083,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Park Aerospace in the first quarter valued at approximately $873,000. Institutional investors own 77.83% of the company’s stock.

About Park Aerospace

Park Aerospace (NYSE: PKE) is a specialized materials and manufacturing company that designs, develops and produces high-performance composite structures, engineered laminates and specialty adhesives for aerospace, defense and industrial markets. Its product portfolio includes advanced honeycomb cores, composite assemblies, dielectric and high-reliability circuit materials, as well as structural and bonding solutions that meet demanding performance and weight requirements.

The company operates through two principal segments.