The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) Short Interest Update

The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 670,700 shares, a growth of 5.4% from the February 29th total of 636,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 172,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

St. Joe Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE JOE opened at $56.35 on Friday. St. Joe has a 1 year low of $38.81 and a 1 year high of $65.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $54.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.24. The firm has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.05 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

St. Joe (NYSE:JOE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. St. Joe had a net margin of 19.96% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The firm had revenue of $86.70 million for the quarter.

St. Joe Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. St. Joe’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Bruce R. Berkowitz sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total transaction of $249,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,390,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,073,830,605.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other St. Joe news, Director Bruce R. Berkowitz sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total transaction of $249,210.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,390,224 shares in the company, valued at $1,073,830,605.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce R. Berkowitz sold 7,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.28, for a total transaction of $396,244.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,228,724 shares in the company, valued at $1,043,735,138.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 106,800 shares of company stock valued at $5,780,959. Insiders own 42.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On St. Joe

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of St. Joe in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,779,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of St. Joe by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 413,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,473,000 after acquiring an additional 21,497 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of St. Joe in the 3rd quarter valued at $298,000. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of St. Joe by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 31,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of St. Joe in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,576,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.67% of the company’s stock.

About St. Joe

The St. Joe Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate development, asset management, and operating company in Northwest Florida. It operates through three segments: Residential, Hospitality, and Commercial. The Residential segment engages in the development of communities into homesites for sale to homebuilders and on a limited basis to retail customers.