Short Interest in L.B. Foster Company (NASDAQ:FSTR) Increases By 17.9%

L.B. Foster Company (NASDAQ:FSTR) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 171,936 shares, an increase of 17.9% from the February 26th total of 145,829 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 27,837 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.2 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity at L.B. Foster

In other news, major shareholder Aron R. English sold 78,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.51, for a total transaction of $2,235,583.14. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,107,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,575,053.08. This trade represents a 6.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 112,143 shares of company stock valued at $3,205,603 over the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of L.B. Foster

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Comerica Bank raised its position in shares of L.B. Foster by 356.7% in the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in L.B. Foster by 189.5% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,131 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,395 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new position in L.B. Foster in the 2nd quarter worth about $122,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of L.B. Foster by 469.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 4,752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of L.B. Foster in the 4th quarter valued at about $180,000. 80.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

L.B. Foster Stock Up 0.4%

FSTR stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.00. 78,496 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 26,682. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $29.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.16. L.B. Foster has a 52 week low of $17.16 and a 52 week high of $32.63. The company has a market cap of $288.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.58 and a beta of 0.99.

L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.44). The company had revenue of $160.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $158.83 million. L.B. Foster had a return on equity of 4.32% and a net margin of 1.40%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that L.B. Foster will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FSTR. Wall Street Zen downgraded L.B. Foster from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of L.B. Foster in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research cut L.B. Foster from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on shares of L.B. Foster from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, L.B. Foster has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.00.

About L.B. Foster

L.B. Foster Company is a diversified infrastructure solutions provider offering products and services to the transportation, energy, and construction markets. Founded in 1902 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the company has built a reputation for delivering specialty materials and engineering solutions that support critical infrastructure projects across various industries.

The company’s operations are organized into three primary segments: Rail Products & Services, Construction Products, and Tubular & Energy Products.