Travel + Leisure Co. (NYSE:TNL) Short Interest Up 16.4% in February

Travel + Leisure Co. (NYSE:TNL) was the target of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,560,000 shares, an increase of 16.4% from the February 13th total of 1,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 591,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days. Approximately 2.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Travel + Leisure Stock Performance

TNL stock opened at $47.55 on Friday. Travel + Leisure has a one year low of $39.91 and a one year high of $58.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a PE ratio of 8.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $53.43 and a 200-day moving average of $50.68.

Travel + Leisure (NYSE:TNL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $971.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $958.87 million. Travel + Leisure had a net margin of 10.63% and a negative return on equity of 45.75%. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Travel + Leisure will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Travel + Leisure Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from Travel + Leisure’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Travel + Leisure’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director George Herrera sold 6,336 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.80, for a total value of $296,524.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,121.20. This represents a 69.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Michael Dean Brown bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $46.66 per share, with a total value of $93,320.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 408,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,070,221.96. This represents a 0.49 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 4.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Travel + Leisure

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Travel + Leisure by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,544,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,822,000 after acquiring an additional 163,804 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its position in Travel + Leisure by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,565,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,984,000 after acquiring an additional 12,111 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Travel + Leisure by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,424,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,358,000 after acquiring an additional 58,944 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Travel + Leisure by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,036,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,302,000 after acquiring an additional 90,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Travel + Leisure by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 915,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,169,000 after acquiring an additional 122,173 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TNL. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Travel + Leisure in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Travel + Leisure from $49.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Travel + Leisure from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Travel + Leisure from $61.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Travel + Leisure from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.70.

About Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Co, together with its subsidiaries, provides hospitality services and travel products in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Vacation Ownership; and Travel and Membership. The Vacation Ownership segment develops, markets, and sells vacation ownership interests (VOIs) to individual consumers, as well as provides consumer financing in connection with the sale of VOIs; and property management services at resorts.