Interface (NASDAQ:TILE) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Interface (NASDAQ:TILE) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Interface from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Barrington Research raised their price objective on shares of Interface from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Interface from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Benchmark began coverage on shares of Interface in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Interface has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.50.

Interface Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TILE opened at $37.89 on Wednesday. Interface has a twelve month low of $24.40 and a twelve month high of $40.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Interface (NASDAQ:TILE) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The textile maker reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.24. Interface had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 21.77%. The business had revenue of $395.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Interface’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Interface will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Interface news, CEO Laurel Hurd sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total value of $273,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 506,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,817,770.02. This represents a 1.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.47% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Interface

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TILE. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Interface in the second quarter worth $338,055,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Interface by 4,232.4% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,313,042 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $82,899,000 after purchasing an additional 2,259,653 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in shares of Interface during the 2nd quarter worth $66,077,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Interface by 133.9% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,008,260 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $56,071,000 after buying an additional 1,149,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Interface during the second quarter valued at about $16,508,000. 98.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Interface

Interface, Inc (NASDAQ: TILE) is a global manufacturer of modular flooring and resilient commercial flooring solutions. The company specializes in carpet tiles, luxury vinyl tile (LVT) and other environmentally responsible hard-surface products designed for use in corporate, education, healthcare, hospitality and retail environments. Interface’s portfolio also includes broadloom carpet, rubber flooring and acoustic underlays, all engineered to meet performance, design and sustainability requirements in modern interior spaces.

Founded in 1973 by Ray C.