Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) Short Interest Update

Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 574,500 shares, an increase of 27.4% from the February 28th total of 450,800 shares. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 106,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kaiser Aluminum

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KALU. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Kaiser Aluminum by 2.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 294,502 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $21,357,000 after purchasing an additional 7,644 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 73,250 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,360,000 after buying an additional 7,373 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 27.6% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,312 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,401,000 after buying an additional 4,175 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its position in Kaiser Aluminum by 20.2% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,597 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the period. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new position in Kaiser Aluminum during the third quarter worth $269,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised Kaiser Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 23rd.

Kaiser Aluminum Price Performance

NASDAQ:KALU opened at $59.79 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $69.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.81. Kaiser Aluminum has a one year low of $57.74 and a one year high of $102.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market cap of $962.62 million, a P/E ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 1.32.

Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $765.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $752.00 million. Kaiser Aluminum had a return on equity of 6.25% and a net margin of 1.55%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Kaiser Aluminum will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Kaiser Aluminum Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.15%. Kaiser Aluminum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 107.32%.

Kaiser Aluminum Company Profile

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in manufacture and sale of semi-fabricated specialty aluminum mill products in the United States and internationally. It offers rolled, extruded, and drawn aluminum products used for aerospace and defense, aluminum beverage and food packaging, automotive and general engineering products.