Short Interest in Aptiv PLC (NYSE:APTV) Declines By 7.9%

Aptiv PLC (NYSE:APTV) was the target of a large decline in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 29,080,000 shares, a decline of 7.9% from the September 15th total of 31,590,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,350,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.7 days. Currently, 11.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Aptiv

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in Aptiv by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 45,414 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $3,270,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Aptiv by 2.5% in the third quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 22,000 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,584,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its stake in shares of Aptiv by 44.3% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 505 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its position in shares of Aptiv by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 16,490 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after buying an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Pacific Financial grew its stake in shares of Aptiv by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 7,252 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $522,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. 94.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APTV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Aptiv from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Aptiv from $105.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Aptiv from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $78.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Aptiv from $118.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Aptiv from $90.00 to $83.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.13.

Aptiv Stock Performance

APTV stock traded down $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $70.22. The company had a trading volume of 1,944,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,959,652. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Aptiv has a 12-month low of $63.62 and a 12-month high of $95.22. The stock has a market cap of $19.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.09.

Aptiv (NYSE:APTV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The auto parts company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.16. Aptiv had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 18.46%. The company had revenue of $5.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. Aptiv’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aptiv will post 6.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aptiv Company Profile

Aptiv PLC engages in design, manufacture, and sale of vehicle components in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, South America, and internationally. The company provides electrical, electronic, and safety technology solutions to the automotive and commercial vehicle markets. It operates through two segments, Signal and Power Solutions, and Advanced Safety and User Experience.