ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,480,000 shares, an increase of 29.6% from the September 30th total of 4,230,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,640,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

ArcelorMittal Price Performance

MT stock traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $24.81. The stock had a trading volume of 283,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,590,940. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. ArcelorMittal has a 52 week low of $20.52 and a 52 week high of $29.01.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by ($0.49). ArcelorMittal had a negative net margin of 0.93% and a positive return on equity of 6.00%. The business had revenue of $16.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.20 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that ArcelorMittal will post 3 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of ArcelorMittal from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded ArcelorMittal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $29.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Barclays raised ArcelorMittal from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.30.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ArcelorMittal in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,406,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in ArcelorMittal by 2,038.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 822,426 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,858,000 after buying an additional 783,965 shares in the last quarter. MMCAP International Inc. SPC grew its stake in shares of ArcelorMittal by 103.4% during the first quarter. MMCAP International Inc. SPC now owns 650,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,950,000 after buying an additional 330,820 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ArcelorMittal during the second quarter worth $12,679,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of ArcelorMittal by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 225,420 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,169,000 after acquiring an additional 3,994 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.88% of the company’s stock.

ArcelorMittal Company Profile

ArcelorMittal SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated steel and mining companies in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It offers semi-finished flat products, including slabs; finished flat products comprising plates, hot- and cold-rolled coils and sheets, hot-dipped and electro-galvanized coils and sheets, tinplate, and color coated coils and sheets; semi-finished long products, such as blooms and billets; finished long products consisting of bars, wire-rods, structural sections, rails, sheet piles, and wire-products; and seamless and welded pipes and tubes.