Short Interest in Ferroglobe PLC (NASDAQ:GSM) Increases By 33.5%

Ferroglobe PLC (NASDAQ:GSM) saw a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 4,099,367 shares, a growth of 33.5% from the February 26th total of 3,069,624 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,194,440 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Madrid Javier Lopez purchased 26,000 shares of Ferroglobe stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $3.86 per share, for a total transaction of $100,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 147,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,192. This represents a 21.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director De Fuentes Silvia Villar-Mir acquired 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $3.86 per share, for a total transaction of $100,360.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 121,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $467,932.36. The trade was a 27.30% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 13.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ferroglobe

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GSM. World Investment Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Ferroglobe in the 4th quarter valued at $106,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Ferroglobe by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 299,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,389,000 after purchasing an additional 47,127 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Ferroglobe by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 817,763 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,794,000 after purchasing an additional 79,950 shares during the last quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ferroglobe by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC now owns 3,798,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,626,000 after buying an additional 560,867 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Resource Partners LP bought a new position in Ferroglobe during the fourth quarter worth about $858,000. Institutional investors own 89.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ferroglobe in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised Ferroglobe from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ferroglobe from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

Ferroglobe Price Performance

NASDAQ:GSM traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $4.30. 953,462 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,449,648. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $802.51 million, a PE ratio of -4.67 and a beta of 0.93. Ferroglobe has a 12 month low of $2.97 and a 12 month high of $5.74. The company has a fifty day moving average of $4.83 and a 200 day moving average of $4.68.

Ferroglobe (NASDAQ:GSM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.01. Ferroglobe had a negative net margin of 12.78% and a negative return on equity of 8.65%. The company had revenue of $329.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $293.60 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ferroglobe will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ferroglobe Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 23rd will be issued a $0.015 dividend. This is an increase from Ferroglobe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 23rd. Ferroglobe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -6.52%.

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.