Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,870,000 shares, a growth of 68.5% from the February 29th total of 1,110,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 435,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stratasys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SSYS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Stratasys by 119.2% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 41,035 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 22,313 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Stratasys by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,047,914 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,964,000 after buying an additional 163,461 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Stratasys by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 77,493 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 5,267 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Stratasys by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 546,783 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,808,000 after acquiring an additional 3,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prelude Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Stratasys during the fourth quarter worth $488,000. 75.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Stratasys in a research note on Tuesday, December 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Stratasys in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Stratasys in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company.

Stratasys Stock Performance

NASDAQ SSYS traded down $0.10 on Thursday, reaching $11.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 36,238 shares, compared to its average volume of 377,011. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $12.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.32. The stock has a market cap of $817.81 million, a PE ratio of -6.61 and a beta of 1.30. Stratasys has a twelve month low of $9.95 and a twelve month high of $21.72.

Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The technology company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.02. Stratasys had a negative net margin of 19.61% and a negative return on equity of 2.28%. The company had revenue of $156.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $153.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.03) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Stratasys will post -0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stratasys Company Profile

Stratasys Ltd. provides connected polymer-based 3D printing solutions. It offers range of 3D printing systems, which includes polyjet printer, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers, stereolithography printing systems, origin P3 printers, and SAF printer for manufacturing, tooling and rapid prototyping, and various vertical markets, such as automotive, aerospace, consumer products and healthcare.