Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRUS) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRUS) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,010,000 shares, a decrease of 17.2% from the February 13th total of 1,220,000 shares. Currently, 16.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 186,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on KRUS shares. Lake Street Capital raised shares of Kura Sushi USA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $103.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Kura Sushi USA in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. TD Securities started coverage on shares of Kura Sushi USA in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Kura Sushi USA in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.20.

Kura Sushi USA Price Performance

KRUS traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $51.98. The stock had a trading volume of 352,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 183,371. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $627.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -76.44 and a beta of 1.82. Kura Sushi USA has a 1-year low of $48.66 and a 1-year high of $122.81.

Kura Sushi USA (NASDAQ:KRUS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.16. Kura Sushi USA had a negative net margin of 3.08% and a negative return on equity of 0.50%. As a group, research analysts expect that Kura Sushi USA will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Seitaro Ishii sold 6,918 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.03, for a total transaction of $574,401.54. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $109,018.39. This represents a 84.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kura Sushi USA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kura Sushi USA by 45.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,246,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,407,000 after acquiring an additional 390,688 shares during the period. 12 West Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Kura Sushi USA by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. 12 West Capital Management LP now owns 556,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,400,000 after acquiring an additional 63,000 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kura Sushi USA by 24.5% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 505,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,731,000 after acquiring an additional 99,515 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kura Sushi USA by 72.4% during the fourth quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC now owns 373,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,809,000 after acquiring an additional 156,723 shares during the period. Finally, Granahan Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kura Sushi USA by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 367,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,245,000 after acquiring an additional 51,599 shares during the period. 65.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Kura Sushi USA