American Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSWA) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

American Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSWA) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 381,800 shares, an increase of 21.9% from the June 15th total of 313,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 232,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, B. Riley dropped their target price on American Software from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 7th.

American Software Trading Up 0.2 %

American Software stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $9.56. The company had a trading volume of 184,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 303,418. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.63. American Software has a 12 month low of $8.41 and a 12 month high of $12.58. The company has a market capitalization of $318.16 million, a PE ratio of 28.12 and a beta of 0.71.

American Software (NASDAQ:AMSWA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The software maker reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $25.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.87 million. American Software had a return on equity of 8.90% and a net margin of 10.75%. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Software will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

American Software Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. American Software’s payout ratio is currently 129.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James B. Miller, Jr. purchased 3,718 shares of American Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $9.15 per share, with a total value of $34,019.70. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 719 shares in the company, valued at $6,578.85. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director James B. Miller, Jr. purchased 3,718 shares of American Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $9.15 per share, with a total value of $34,019.70. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 719 shares in the company, valued at $6,578.85. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew G. Mckenna purchased 5,000 shares of American Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.53 per share, for a total transaction of $42,650.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 37,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $318,595.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 11.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMSWA. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in American Software by 89.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 6,803 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 3,215 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in American Software by 526.7% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,282 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 6,120 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in American Software in the first quarter valued at about $92,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in American Software in the first quarter valued at about $103,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in American Software by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,578 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 3,448 shares during the period. 76.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About American Software

American Software, Inc develops, markets, and supports a range of computer business application software products in the United States and internationally. It operates through Supply Chain Management (SCM), Information Technology Consulting (IT Consulting), and Other segments. The SCM segment leverages a single platform spanning eight supply chain process areas including product, demand, inventory, network optimization supply, deploy aligned with integrated business planning and supply chain data management.