ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $53.80, but opened at $60.29. ArcelorMittal shares last traded at $60.0550, with a volume of 847,701 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MT has been the topic of several recent research reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on ArcelorMittal in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of ArcelorMittal in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of ArcelorMittal in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on ArcelorMittal from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Oddo Bhf upgraded ArcelorMittal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ArcelorMittal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.98.

ArcelorMittal Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $46.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.73.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.30. ArcelorMittal had a return on equity of 5.27% and a net margin of 5.14%.The business had revenue of $14.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that ArcelorMittal will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

ArcelorMittal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. ArcelorMittal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.44%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MT. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in ArcelorMittal by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,038 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $982,000 after buying an additional 14,593 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in ArcelorMittal by 44.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,635 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in ArcelorMittal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $232,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in ArcelorMittal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $274,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in ArcelorMittal by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 37,029 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,169,000 after buying an additional 3,171 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 9.29% of the company’s stock.

About ArcelorMittal

ArcelorMittal is a multinational steel manufacturing company formed in 2006 through the merger of Arcelor and Mittal Steel. Headquartered in Luxembourg, the company is one of the world’s largest producers of steel and operates an integrated value chain that spans raw material extraction, steelmaking, processing and distribution. Its product portfolio includes flat and long carbon steel products, coated and specialty steels, tubular products and value-added solutions tailored for sectors such as automotive, construction, household appliances, energy and packaging.

ArcelorMittal’s operations are global in scope, with production facilities, distribution networks and commercial activities across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States.