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

ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,110,000 shares, a drop of 25.0% from the January 15th total of 5,480,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,780,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of ArcelorMittal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $32.90 in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of ArcelorMittal from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, ArcelorMittal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.17.

ArcelorMittal Price Performance

Shares of MT traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $28.58. 570,484 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,188,899. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $23.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $24.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.03. ArcelorMittal has a 52-week low of $20.52 and a 52-week high of $29.38.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.09). ArcelorMittal had a net margin of 2.14% and a return on equity of 4.24%. On average, analysts anticipate that ArcelorMittal will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of ArcelorMittal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MT. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in ArcelorMittal by 221.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,403,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,712,000 after acquiring an additional 2,344,020 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in ArcelorMittal by 146.7% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,535,319 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,512,000 after acquiring an additional 912,984 shares during the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new stake in shares of ArcelorMittal in the 4th quarter worth about $9,895,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of ArcelorMittal by 46.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,317,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,606,000 after buying an additional 419,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD Mission Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of ArcelorMittal by 145.8% in the 4th quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 678,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $15,690,000 after buying an additional 402,402 shares during the last quarter. 9.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About ArcelorMittal

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.