Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,370,000 shares, a growth of 9.0% from the March 15th total of 13,180,000 shares. Approximately 8.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 6,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alcoa

In other Alcoa news, EVP Tammi A. Jones sold 26,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.78, for a total transaction of $814,685.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 41,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,267,089.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in Alcoa by 2.2% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 8,748 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $788,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Alcoa by 0.6% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 48,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,206,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. State of Wisconsin Investment Board lifted its position in Alcoa by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. State of Wisconsin Investment Board now owns 90,102 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,097,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in Alcoa in the first quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Alcoa by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 26,485 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $900,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Alcoa from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Alcoa from $27.00 to $29.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alcoa from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Alcoa from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Alcoa from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.88.

Alcoa Stock Down 1.3 %

AA stock traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,126,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,105,527. Alcoa has a 12 month low of $23.07 and a 12 month high of $42.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $30.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.93.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The industrial products company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $2.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.59 billion. Alcoa had a negative return on equity of 6.56% and a negative net margin of 6.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.70) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Alcoa will post 0.33 EPS for the current year.

Alcoa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Alcoa’s dividend payout ratio is currently -10.96%.

Alcoa Company Profile

Alcoa Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products in the United States, Spain, Australia, Iceland, Norway, Brazil, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Alumina and Aluminum. It engages in bauxite mining operations; and processes bauxite into alumina and sells it to customers who process it into industrial chemical products, as well as aluminum smelting and casting businesses.