Graham Holdings (NYSE:GHC) Short Interest Down 7.7% in March

Graham Holdings (NYSE:GHC) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 54,800 shares, a drop of 7.7% from the March 15th total of 59,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 14,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Katharine Weymouth sold 556 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $712.99, for a total transaction of $396,422.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,993 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,989.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 32.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Graham

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Graham in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,531,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its holdings in Graham by 12.6% in the third quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 18,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,535,000 after acquiring an additional 2,025 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Graham in the third quarter valued at approximately $785,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Graham by 182.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $637,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Graham by 23.1% in the third quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 8,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Graham from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th.

Graham Trading Down 0.3 %

GHC stock traded down $2.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $707.33. 18,827 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,197. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.26 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $727.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $674.90. Graham has a 12-month low of $551.36 and a 12-month high of $771.05.

Graham (NYSE:GHC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $10.94 EPS for the quarter. Graham had a net margin of 4.65% and a return on equity of 5.23%. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter.

Graham Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 18th will be paid a $1.72 dividend. This represents a $6.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 17th. Graham’s payout ratio is 15.83%.

About Graham

Graham Holdings Company, through its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified education and media company in the United States and internationally. It provides test preparation services and materials; professional training and exam preparation for professional certifications and licensures; and non-academic operations support services to the Purdue University Global; operations support services for online courses and programs; training and test preparation services for accounting and financial services professionals; English-language training, academic preparation programs, and test preparation for English proficiency exams; and A-level examination preparation services, as well as operates colleges, business school, higher education institution, and an online learning institution.