Karat Packaging Inc. (NASDAQ:KRT) Short Interest Update

19 Apr 2026, 03:16 by Teresa Graham · The Cerbat Gem

Karat Packaging Inc. (NASDAQ:KRT – Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 179,976 shares, a growth of 21.9% from the March 15th total of 147,593 shares. Approximately 2.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 101,077 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KRT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America set a $24.00 target price on shares of Karat Packaging and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Karat Packaging in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Karat Packaging from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Karat Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Karat Packaging has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.50.

Get Our Latest Report on Karat Packaging

Karat Packaging Stock Up 5.0%

Karat Packaging stock opened at $30.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $602.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 2.30 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Karat Packaging has a fifty-two week low of $20.61 and a fifty-two week high of $32.68. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.56.

Karat Packaging (NASDAQ:KRT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $115.62 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.95 million. Karat Packaging had a net margin of 6.73% and a return on equity of 19.63%. As a group, analysts forecast that Karat Packaging will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Karat Packaging Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.0%. Karat Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 115.38%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Karat Packaging by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 477,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,037,000 after purchasing an additional 51,179 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Karat Packaging by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 330,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,320,000 after purchasing an additional 10,617 shares during the period. Ranger Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Karat Packaging by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 322,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,980 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Karat Packaging by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 314,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,089,000 after purchasing an additional 114,204 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in shares of Karat Packaging during the 4th quarter worth about $5,216,000. Institutional investors own 25.20% of the company’s stock.

About Karat Packaging

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Karat Packaging Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: KRT) is a U.S.-based provider of premium packaging solutions for consumer goods and industrial products. The company specializes in the design, manufacture and delivery of high-quality litho-laminated folding cartons, tubes and flexible packaging. Karat Packaging operates an integrated production model that combines prepress, printing, converting and finishing capabilities to support the branding and shelf-appeal needs of its customers.