The most recent short interest data has been released by the NASDAQ for the 04/15/2014 settlement date, which shows a 463,008 share increase in total short interest for Layne Christensen Co. (LAYN), to 3,159,608, an increase of 17.17% since 03/31/2014. Total short interest is just one way to look at short data; another metric that we here at Dividend Channel find particularly useful is the "days to cover" metric because it considers both the total shares short and the average daily volume of shares traded. The number of shares short is then compared to the average daily volume, in order to calculate the total number of trading days (at the average volume) it would take to close out all of the open short positions if every share traded represented a short position being closed. Average daily volume for LAYN at the 04/15/2014 settlement decreased to 97,093, as compared to 119,108 at the 03/31/2014 report. That brought "days to cover" up to 32.54, a 43.74% increase from the 22.64 days to cover calculated at the previous short interest data release.
The below chart shows the historical "days to cover" for LAYN at previous short interest release dates: START SLIDESHOW:
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The chart below shows the one year performance of LAYN shares, versus its 200 day moving average. Looking at this chart, LAYN's low point in its 52 week range is $13.88 per share, with $22.64 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $16.99.
