Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) Short Interest Up 8.5% in December

Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) saw a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,320,000 shares, a growth of 8.5% from the December 15th total of 3,980,000 shares. Approximately 8.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,790,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Five Below

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Five Below by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,662,313 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $146,865,000 after purchasing an additional 31,520 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Five Below by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 979,489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $86,559,000 after purchasing an additional 11,504 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Five Below by 556.2% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 908,425 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $98,991,000 after purchasing an additional 769,980 shares during the last quarter. Atreides Management LP bought a new stake in Five Below during the third quarter valued at approximately $68,649,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new position in shares of Five Below during the third quarter worth approximately $64,981,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on FIVE shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Five Below from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Five Below from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Five Below from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup raised their target price on Five Below from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Five Below from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Five Below currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.75.

Five Below Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of FIVE stock traded down $2.19 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $90.64. The stock had a trading volume of 2,526,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,436,047. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.53. Five Below has a 12 month low of $64.87 and a 12 month high of $212.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a PE ratio of 18.69, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.14.

Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The specialty retailer reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.26. Five Below had a net margin of 7.02% and a return on equity of 18.03%. The company had revenue of $843.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $801.48 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. Five Below’s revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Five Below will post 4.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Five Below Company Profile

Five Below, Inc operates as a specialty value retailer in the United States. The company offers range of accessories, which includes novelty socks, sunglasses, jewelry, scarves, gloves, hair accessories, athletic tops and bottoms, and t-shirts, as well as nail polish, lip gloss, fragrance, and branded cosmetics; and personalized living space products, such as lamps, posters, frames, fleece blankets, plush items, pillows, candles, incense, lighting, novelty décor, accent furniture, and related items, as well as provides storage options.