De Lisle Partners LLP Purchases Shares of 64,296 Escalade, Incorporated $ESCA

De Lisle Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Escalade, Incorporated (NASDAQ:ESCA) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 64,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,204,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Escalade in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Escalade by 439.0% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 2,950 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Escalade during the second quarter worth $156,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Escalade by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,000 after acquiring an additional 779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Certior Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Escalade by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Certior Financial Group LLC now owns 12,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. 65.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ESCA shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Escalade from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Escalade from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Strong Buy”.

Escalade Stock Performance

ESCA stock opened at $21.09 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $290.41 million, a P/E ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 0.58. Escalade, Incorporated has a one year low of $11.41 and a one year high of $23.07.

Escalade (NASDAQ:ESCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.52. Escalade had a return on equity of 13.11% and a net margin of 9.46%.The company had revenue of $57.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.60 million. Research analysts forecast that Escalade, Incorporated will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Escalade Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be issued a $0.1525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $0.61 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Escalade’s payout ratio is 36.53%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Stephen Wawrin sold 3,177 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.40, for a total value of $67,987.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 45,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $963,000. This trade represents a 6.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Edward E. Williams sold 30,315 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.98, for a total transaction of $636,008.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 132,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,773,283.26. The trade was a 18.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 41,227 shares of company stock valued at $872,743 in the last 90 days. 33.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Escalade Profile

Escalade, Inc is a U.S.-based manufacturer and distributor of recreational equipment and specialty products for both consumer and commercial markets. Headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, the company operates through two principal business segments: Sporting Goods and Commercial Products. The Sporting Goods segment encompasses a diverse range of products such as hockey and lacrosse goal assemblies, fitness accessories, archery and hunting gear, and table tennis equipment. The Commercial Products segment focuses on seating solutions for restaurants, hospitality venues and other public spaces under the Top Seat brand, as well as storage, display products and industrial carts.

Within Sporting Goods, Escalade markets its products under proprietary brands including Bear® Archery, Gene St.