The Shyft Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHYF) Shares Purchased by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of The Shyft Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHYF) by 103.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 200,672 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 102,128 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC owned about 0.59% of The Shyft Group worth $2,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in The Shyft Group by 5.3% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,485,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,840,000 after purchasing an additional 125,952 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in The Shyft Group by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,062,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,270,000 after purchasing an additional 356,411 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in The Shyft Group by 1.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,739,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,034,000 after purchasing an additional 28,179 shares during the period. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC increased its stake in The Shyft Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 1,039,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,852,000 after purchasing an additional 19,877 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in The Shyft Group by 0.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 702,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,489,000 after purchasing an additional 4,083 shares during the period. 85.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of The Shyft Group from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, The Shyft Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John Albert Dunn bought 4,545 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $11.00 per share, with a total value of $49,995.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,894 shares in the company, valued at $394,834. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.54% of the company’s stock.

The Shyft Group Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SHYF opened at $10.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $365.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.23 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The Shyft Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.81 and a fifty-two week high of $27.36.

The Shyft Group (NASDAQ:SHYF) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $202.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.40 million. The Shyft Group had a net margin of 0.74% and a return on equity of 4.91%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Shyft Group, Inc. will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current year.

The Shyft Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. The Shyft Group’s payout ratio is 111.12%.

About The Shyft Group

The Shyft Group, Inc engages in the manufacture and assembly of specialty vehicles for the commercial and recreational vehicle industries in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Fleet Vehicles and Services, and Specialty Vehicles. The Fleet Vehicles and Services segment offers commercial vehicles used in the e-commerce/last mile/parcel delivery, beverage and grocery delivery, laundry and linen, mobile retail, and trades and construction industries.