Usio Inc (NASDAQ:USIO) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Usio Inc (NASDAQ:USIO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 72,407 shares, an increase of 1,168.7% from the April 30th total of 5,707 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 119,462 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.6 days. Approximately 0.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Usio Price Performance

USIO opened at $1.64 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.33. Usio has a fifty-two week low of $1.03 and a fifty-two week high of $2.02. The firm has a market cap of $45.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.50 and a beta of 1.29.

Usio (NASDAQ:USIO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $25.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.20 million. Usio had a negative return on equity of 11.73% and a negative net margin of 2.43%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Usio will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Usio

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Usio during the first quarter valued at $3,202,000. Rothschild Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Usio during the fourth quarter worth about $563,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Usio in the 1st quarter worth about $205,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its position in Usio by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 90,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 25,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scoggin Management LP bought a new stake in Usio in the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,000. 20.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on USIO shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Usio in a report on Friday, March 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upped their price objective on shares of Usio from $5.75 to $6.25 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research upgraded Usio from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $4.00 price target on shares of Usio in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.13.

About Usio

Usio, Inc (NASDAQ: USIO) is a financial technology company that delivers integrated payment, transaction processing, and money services solutions. The company’s platform combines merchant acquiring, multi?rail payment enablement and business management tools to support merchants, financial institutions and business partners in automating and securing electronic and cash?based transactions.

Through its subsidiaries, Usio provides a broad range of products and services, including point-of-sale terminals, payment gateway services, automated teller machine (ATM) processing, bill payment, money order issuance, domestic and international money transfer and remittance solutions.