Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN – Get Rating) saw a surge in short-term interest in May. As of May 15, there was short interest totaling 1,150,000 shares, an increase of 37.5% from the total of 836,200 shares as of April 30. Based on an average trading volume of 431,200 shares, the day-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. About 2.9% of the stock’s shares are sold short.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently been buying and selling shares of the company. Trustcore Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Vail Resorts in the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Vail Resorts stock during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. UMB Bank NA MO acquired a new stake in shares of Vail Resorts during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. CWM LLC acquired a new equity stake in Vail Resorts during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Vail Resorts stock during the third quarter worth approximately $35,000.

Several equity research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised his price target on Vail Resorts shares from $262.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “holding” rating in a Wednesday, March 23 report. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered its price target on Vail Resorts shares from $305.00 to $303.00 and set a “holding” rating for the company in a Tuesday, April 26 report. StockNews.com began covering Vail Resorts shares in a report on Thursday, March 31. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, KeyCorp lowered its price target on Vail Resorts shares from $370.00 to $330.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a Tuesday, March 15 report. Seven analysts gave the stock a hold rating and three gave the stock a buy rating. According to MarketBeat.com, Vail Resorts currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $328.25.

NYSE MTN was down $0.72 during Monday trading hours, hitting $252.94. The company had a trading volume of 18,280 shares, compared to an average volume of 442,544. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $251.01 and a 200-day moving average of $281.35. Vail Resorts has a 1-year minimum of $221.38 and a 1-year maximum of $376.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.09 and a beta of 1.19.

Vail Resorts (NYSE:MTN – Get Rating) last released its results on Monday, March 14. The company reported EPS of $5.47 for the quarter, missing analyst consensus estimates of $5.70 per ($0.23). Vail Resorts achieved a net margin of 10.02% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The company posted revenue of $906.54 million in the quarter, versus analyst estimates of $954.87 million. During the same period of the previous year, the company achieved EPS of $3.62. The company’s quarterly revenue increased by 32.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect Vail Resorts to post an EPS of 8.39 for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 14. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 30 received a dividend of $1.91. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 29. This represents a dividend of $7.64 on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. This is a boost from Vail Resorts’ previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Vail Resorts’ dividend payout ratio is currently 145.25%.

Company Profile Vail Resorts (Get an evaluation)

Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates mountain resorts and urban ski areas in the United States. It operates through three segments: Mountain, Accommodation and Real Estate. The Mountain segment operates 37 destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas. This segment is also involved in ancillary businesses, including ski school, catering and retail/rental business, as well as real estate brokerage business.

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