IDT Corporation (NYSE:IDT) Short Interest Update

IDT Corporation (NYSE:IDT) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 397,568 shares, a growth of 21.7% from the February 26th total of 326,609 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 171,893 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on IDT. Wall Street Zen cut IDT from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of IDT in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IDT presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

IDT Stock Performance

Shares of IDT opened at $49.14 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $49.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.04. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 15.07 and a beta of 0.76. IDT has a fifty-two week low of $45.35 and a fifty-two week high of $71.12.

IDT (NYSE:IDT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 10th. The utilities provider reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $320.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $302.00 million. IDT had a return on equity of 25.97% and a net margin of 6.49%.

IDT Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 19th were paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 19th. This is a positive change from IDT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. IDT’s dividend payout ratio is 8.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at IDT

In other news, CFO Marcelo Fischer sold 7,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total value of $364,678.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 56,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,958,581.89. The trade was a 10.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 8,570 shares of company stock valued at $446,073 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 25.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IDT

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IDT. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of IDT by 40.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 58,197 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,986,000 after acquiring an additional 16,678 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of IDT by 4.3% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $470,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in IDT by 392.6% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 163,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,406,000 after purchasing an additional 130,569 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in IDT by 14.0% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 29,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 3,685 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in IDT by 206.3% during the second quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 23,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,623,000 after purchasing an additional 16,003 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.34% of the company’s stock.

IDT Company Profile

IDT Corporation, founded in 1990 and headquartered in Newark, New Jersey, is a diversified global provider of telecommunications and payment services. The company operates through its primary communications arm, IDT Telecom, and a digital solutions segment that encompasses cross-border money transfers and related fintech offerings. Since its inception, IDT has built an international network infrastructure to support voice and data transmission across more than 200 countries and territories.

Through IDT Telecom, the company offers a suite of voice communication products, including prepaid phone cards, VoIP services, SIP trunking and operator-assisted calling.