Caesarstone Ltd. (NASDAQ:CSTE) Short Interest Down 44.6% in April

Caesarstone Ltd. (NASDAQ:CSTE) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 34,700 shares, a decline of 44.6% from the March 31st total of 62,600 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 80,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Caesarstone by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 22,591 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Caesarstone by 21,632.8% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 53,680 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 53,433 shares during the period. Acuitas Investments LLC bought a new stake in Caesarstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $608,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in Caesarstone in the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Caesarstone in the third quarter valued at about $2,711,000. Institutional investors own 33.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Caesarstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd.

Caesarstone Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSTE traded down $0.08 on Friday, hitting $6.19. 99,990 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 73,434. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $4.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.22. Caesarstone has a one year low of $3.50 and a one year high of $6.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.98 and a beta of 0.40.

Caesarstone (NASDAQ:CSTE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The construction company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by ($0.02). Caesarstone had a negative return on equity of 12.71% and a negative net margin of 19.05%. The company had revenue of $128.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.94 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.03) EPS. Research analysts expect that Caesarstone will post -0.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Caesarstone Company Profile

Caesarstone Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and markets engineered stone and other materials under the Caesarstone brand in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Israel. The company's engineered stone slabs are primarily used as indoor and outdoor kitchen countertops in the renovation and remodeling, and residential construction sectors.