Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTG) Short Interest Down 22.9% in March

Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTG) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,425,543 shares, a decline of 22.9% from the February 26th total of 1,849,789 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 600,688 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Acacia Research Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ACTG opened at $4.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $466.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.04 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 9.18 and a quick ratio of 8.64. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.83. Acacia Research has a 12 month low of $2.70 and a 12 month high of $5.21.

Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 11th. The business services provider reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $50.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.00 million. Acacia Research had a return on equity of 4.11% and a net margin of 7.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on ACTG. Craig Hallum raised their price target on Acacia Research from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered Acacia Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Acacia Research from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Acacia Research in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,317,000. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Acacia Research by 195.0% in the third quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 889,547 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,891,000 after purchasing an additional 587,973 shares in the last quarter. GatePass Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acacia Research by 46.4% in the second quarter. GatePass Capital LLC now owns 96,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 30,500 shares in the last quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Acacia Research by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC now owns 845,954 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,216,000 after purchasing an additional 119,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Krilogy Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Acacia Research by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 1,243,413 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,899,000 after purchasing an additional 45,015 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.69% of the company’s stock.

Acacia Research Company Profile

Acacia Research Corporation is a publicly traded patent licensing company based in New York City. The firm specializes in acquiring patented technologies through a network of wholly owned subsidiaries and seeking licensing agreements or settlements with companies that utilize those technologies. Since its founding in 1993, Acacia has built a business model centered on identifying innovative inventions and monetizing them through patent enforcement and strategic partnerships.

The company’s activities span a broad range of technology sectors, including life sciences, medical devices, software, telecommunications and consumer electronics.