Clarus Co. (NASDAQ:CLAR) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Clarus Co. (NASDAQ:CLAR) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,260,000 shares, a decline of 9.2% from the March 15th total of 2,490,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 291,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.8 days. Currently, 8.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CLAR. StockNews.com upgraded Clarus to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Clarus from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. B. Riley lowered their price objective on Clarus from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective (down from $13.00) on shares of Clarus in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Clarus presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.75.

Institutional Trading of Clarus

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in Clarus by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,364,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,432,000 after acquiring an additional 24,474 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Clarus by 77.8% during the 1st quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,218,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,415,000 after purchasing an additional 1,408,417 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Clarus by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,659,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,439,000 after purchasing an additional 123,405 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Clarus by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,649,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,580,000 after buying an additional 42,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Clarus by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 849,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,663,000 after buying an additional 239,928 shares during the period. 90.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Clarus Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:CLAR opened at $6.18 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $236.32 million, a P/E ratio of -22.89 and a beta of 0.90. Clarus has a 12 month low of $4.77 and a 12 month high of $10.02. The business’s 50-day moving average is $6.29 and its 200 day moving average is $6.06.

Clarus (NASDAQ:CLAR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.12). Clarus had a negative net margin of 2.84% and a positive return on equity of 3.31%. The company had revenue of $76.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.45 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Clarus will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Clarus Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 15th. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Clarus’s dividend payout ratio is -37.04%.

Clarus Company Profile

Clarus Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes outdoor equipment and lifestyle products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Outdoor and Adventure. The Outdoor segment offers apparels, such as shells, insulation, midlayers, pants, and logowear; rock-climbing footwear and equipment, including carabiners, protection devices, harnesses, belay devices, helmets, and ice-climbing gears; technical backpacks and day packs; trekking poles; headlamps and lanterns; gloves and mittens; and skis, ski poles, ski skins, avalanche airbag systems, avalanche transceivers, shovels, and probes.