8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,160,000 shares, an increase of 8.8% from the November 30th total of 7,500,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 865,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 9.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on EGHT shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on 8X8 from $2.00 to $2.60 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of 8X8 from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price target (down previously from $7.00) on shares of 8X8 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of 8X8 from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of 8X8 from $1.50 to $2.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, 8X8 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $2.87.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. B. Riley Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of 8X8 during the third quarter worth approximately $1,997,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in 8X8 by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 148,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 11,287 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in 8X8 by 24.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,600,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,264,000 after purchasing an additional 314,441 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of 8X8 in the second quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 8X8 by 105.1% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,498,000 after buying an additional 576,418 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.99% of the company’s stock.

8X8 Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ EGHT traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $2.67. The company had a trading volume of 459,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,147,912. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.37. 8X8 has a 52-week low of $1.51 and a 52-week high of $3.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.26. The stock has a market cap of $348.86 million, a P/E ratio of -4.85, a PEG ratio of 26.98 and a beta of 1.63.

8X8 (NASDAQ:EGHT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. 8X8 had a negative return on equity of 6.00% and a negative net margin of 9.68%. The company had revenue of $181.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.02 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that 8X8 will post 0.01 earnings per share for the current year.

About 8X8

8×8, Inc provides voice, video, chat, contact center, and enterprise-class application programmable interface (API) Software-as-a-Service solutions for small business, mid-market, enterprise customers, government agencies, and other organizations worldwide. It offers 8×8 Work, a self-contained end-to-end united communications solution that delivers voice services, secure video meetings, and unified messaging, including direct messages, public and private team messaging rooms, and peer-to-peer short and multimedia messaging; 8×8 Contact Center, a cloud-based contact center as-a-service solution; and 8×8 Engage, an artificial intelligence-powered solution that equips customer-facing employees outside the contact center with the tools and capabilities to deliver successful customer engagements.