Downgrade Latest Black Eye for ENR Stock

ENR has been in a long-term downtrend

The shares of Energizer Holdings Inc (NYSE:ENR) traded at a three-year low earlier of $38.31, and were last seen down 5.2% at $39.64, Today's move lower is the result of a downgrade to "underweight" from "neutral" at J.P. Morgan Securities, which also cut its price target to $36 from $45. The brokerage firm cited declining sell-through rates following the company's purchase of Rayovac's battery business.

This brings ENR's one-year deficit to 36%, after the shares broke south from a five-month consolidation pattern. In light of this huge sell-off, bearish traders have been swarming the stock. Starting in the options pits, the equity's 10-day put/call volume ratio is 9.36, and though that's amid low absolute volumes, this reading still shows more than nine long puts crossing for every call in the last 10 days. Similarly, Energizer's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) is at an annual put-skewed extreme of 2.09.

Elsewhere, short sellers have been borrowing shares at an accelerated rate, with short interest rising almost 27% in the last two reporting periods. This puts nearly 13% of the total float in the hands of short sellers.

There are still four "strong buy" recommendations in place, however, which seems generous considering the stock's performance. This optimism is also reflected in the average 12-month price target of $55.80. As such, the equity is in danger of even more bearish analyst attention going forward.