Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,870,000 shares, an increase of 68.5% from the February 29th total of 1,110,000 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 435,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stratasys

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Stratasys by 119.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 41,035 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 22,313 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Stratasys by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,047,914 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,964,000 after buying an additional 163,461 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Stratasys by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 77,493 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,106,000 after buying an additional 5,267 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stratasys by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 546,783 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,808,000 after acquiring an additional 3,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prelude Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stratasys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $488,000. 75.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SSYS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Stratasys in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Stratasys in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Stratasys in a report on Tuesday, December 26th.

Stratasys Price Performance

Stratasys stock traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $11.74. 36,238 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 377,011. Stratasys has a 12 month low of $9.95 and a 12 month high of $21.72. The firm has a market cap of $817.81 million, a PE ratio of -6.61 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.32.

Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The technology company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02. Stratasys had a negative net margin of 19.61% and a negative return on equity of 2.28%. The business had revenue of $156.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $153.96 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.03) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Stratasys will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

About Stratasys

Stratasys Ltd. provides connected polymer-based 3D printing solutions. It offers range of 3D printing systems, which includes polyjet printer, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers, stereolithography printing systems, origin P3 printers, and SAF printer for manufacturing, tooling and rapid prototyping, and various vertical markets, such as automotive, aerospace, consumer products and healthcare.