Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) Short Interest Down 21.8% in February

Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) was the target of a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,540,000 shares, a drop of 21.8% from the February 13th total of 7,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Tyson Foods

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TSN. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tyson Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Riverview Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Tyson Foods by 3,423.1% in the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in shares of Tyson Foods by 2,478.3% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in Tyson Foods in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Tyson Foods by 58.6% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. 67.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on TSN shares. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Tyson Foods from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Tyson Foods from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler raised shares of Tyson Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Tyson Foods from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Tyson Foods in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.10.

Tyson Foods Price Performance

TSN traded down $0.15 on Tuesday, reaching $60.44. The company had a trading volume of 2,602,850 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,150,221. The company has a fifty day moving average of $58.12 and a 200-day moving average of $59.81. The company has a market capitalization of $21.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.42, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Tyson Foods has a one year low of $53.61 and a one year high of $66.88.

Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $13.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.46 billion. Tyson Foods had a net margin of 1.96% and a return on equity of 6.87%. Tyson Foods’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Tyson Foods will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Tyson Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Tyson Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.57%.

About Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a food company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Beef, Pork, Chicken, and Prepared Foods. The company processes live fed cattle and hogs; fabricates dressed beef and pork carcasses into primal and sub-primal meat cuts, as well as case ready beef and pork, and fully cooked meats; raises and processes chickens into fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken products, including breaded chicken strips, nuggets, patties, and other ready-to-fix or fully cooked chicken parts; and supplies poultry breeding stock.