Morgan Stanley Restates Lumber Liquidators Holdings’ Stock Rating

Lumber Liquidators

In a research note on Monday, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:$MS) restated a ‘Weight’ rating for Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc (NYSE:$LL). The brokerage also increased its price target from $32.00 to $35.00. This would indicate that the stock has the potential downside of 10.21% from the stock’s previous close.

Multiple other firms have also recently weighed in on the stock:

  • TheStreet (NASDAQ:$TST): On August 1st, TheStreet raised Lumber Liquidators Holdings from a “D+” to a “C” rating.
  • Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc (NYSE:$OPY): Also on August 1st, Oppenheimer gave the company a ‘Buy’ rating and set a price target of $34.00.
  • Jefferies Group LLC (NYSE:$JEF): On August 2nd, Jefferies Group reissued a ‘Hold’ rating and increased their target price from $19.00 to $33.00.
  • Stifel Nicolaus: Also on August 2nd, Stifel Nicolaus gave the stock a ‘Hold’ rating and increased their price target from $20.00 to $33.00.
  • Piper Jaffray Companies (NYSE:$PJC): In a report on September 8th, Piper Jaffray restated a ‘Hold’ rating and issued a price target of $32.00.

In total, the company has received 7 ‘Hold’ ratings and 5 ‘Buy’ ratings, giving it an average rating of ‘Hold’. It also has a consensus target price of $29.44.

On Monday, the stock hit $38.35, trading down 1.62% during mid-day trading, with a trading volume of 210,163 shares. Lumber Liquidators also has a 52 week low of $14.02 and a 52 week high of $41.33. The company has a 50 and a 200 day moving average of $36.89 and $27.15 respectively.

They last released their quarterly earnings on August 1st. In the report, they beat the consensus estimate of -$0.08 with a reported EPS of $0.16. The company posted -$0.45 EPS during the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast an annualized EPS of -$0.69 for the current fiscal year.

The company also reported a revenue of $264.50 million. This compares to the analysts’ forecast of $256.89 million. Compared to the same quarter last year, the firm’s revenue increased by 10.7%. The company also reported a negative Net Margin of -4.58% and a negative Return on Equity of -11.75%.

Multiple institutions have recently altered their holdings in the company:

  • Louisiana State Employees Retirement Systems bought an additional 100 shares during the 2nd quarter, for a total of 11,600 shares valued at approximately $291,000. This is a 0.9% increase over the previous quarter.
  • Texas Permanent School Fund bought an additional 270 shares during the 2nd quarter, and now owns 20,723 shares worth approximately $519,000. This represents an increase of 1.3%
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:$JPM) bought an additional 336 shares during the 1st quarter, an increase of 0.5% and totaling 65,483 shares worth approximately $1,374,000.
  • Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan bought 420 shares during the 2nd quarter, an increase of 6.7% for a total of 6,670 shares worth $167,000.
  • Nationwide Fund Advisors bought 590 additional shares during the 2nd quarter, an increase of 3.9%, and now own 15,708 shares worth $394,000.

Institutional ownership currently accounts for 77.32% of the company’s stock.

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