Short Interest in Ferroglobe PLC (NASDAQ:GSM) Declines By 20.7%

Ferroglobe PLC (NASDAQ:GSM) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totaling 4,261,724 shares, a drop of 20.7% from the December 31st total of 5,371,891 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 998,813 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days. Based on an average trading volume of 998,813 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in Ferroglobe by 14.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 19,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 2,494 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Ferroglobe by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,509 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 2,617 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Ferroglobe by 49.0% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 8,334 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 2,740 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd raised its position in shares of Ferroglobe by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 13,941 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 3,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in shares of Ferroglobe in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. 89.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GSM shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Ferroglobe from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. B. Riley decreased their price objective on Ferroglobe from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ferroglobe in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Ferroglobe from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ferroglobe currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.00.

Ferroglobe Price Performance

Shares of GSM stock traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $4.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,500,879 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,049,344. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $4.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.53. Ferroglobe has a 52-week low of $2.97 and a 52-week high of $5.74. The company has a market capitalization of $886.47 million, a P/E ratio of -6.42 and a beta of 1.08.

Ferroglobe (NASDAQ:GSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $311.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $393.80 million. Ferroglobe had a negative return on equity of 6.13% and a negative net margin of 9.92%. Equities research analysts forecast that Ferroglobe will post 0.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Ferroglobe Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.014 per share. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 22nd. Ferroglobe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -6.76%.

About Ferroglobe

Ferroglobe PLC is a leading producer of specialty metals and alloys, serving a diverse range of industrial customers worldwide. The company’s core operations focus on the manufacture of silicon metal, silicon-based alloys, manganese-based alloys and rare earth alloys, which are essential inputs for the aluminum, steel, chemical and electronics industries. Ferroglobe’s product portfolio includes high-purity silicon, ferrosilicon, silicon manganese, manganese alloys and various recarburizers used to enhance metal strength, durability and conductivity.

With production facilities located across North America, Europe, South America and Africa, Ferroglobe maintains a global footprint that allows it to supply customers on multiple continents.