LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NYSE:LTM) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Up 76.3% in October

LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NYSE:LTM) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,559,597 shares, an increase of 76.3% from the September 30th total of 2,018,982 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 798,579 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LTM. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in LATAM Airlines Group by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,985 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in LATAM Airlines Group by 41.4% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,448 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of LATAM Airlines Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of LATAM Airlines Group by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,649 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of LATAM Airlines Group by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,268 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the period.

LATAM Airlines Group Stock Performance

Shares of LATAM Airlines Group stock traded down $1.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $42.36. The company had a trading volume of 1,120,670 shares, compared to its average volume of 951,982. The company has a market cap of $12.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 3.64. LATAM Airlines Group has a fifty-two week low of $41.44 and a fifty-two week high of $70.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $49.86 and its 200-day moving average is $52.87.

LATAM Airlines Group (NYSE:LTM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The transportation company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.03. LATAM Airlines Group had a net margin of 9.69% and a return on equity of 101.21%. The firm had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.06 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that LATAM Airlines Group will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on LTM. Weiss Ratings upgraded LATAM Airlines Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded LATAM Airlines Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research cut LATAM Airlines Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.27.

LATAM Airlines Group Company Profile

LATAM Airlines Group SA is a Chile-based airline holding company and one of the largest air transportation groups in Latin America. The group provides scheduled passenger and cargo services through affiliated airlines operating under the LATAM brand, connecting major cities within Latin America and serving destinations in North America, Europe, the Caribbean, Africa and Oceania.

Its passenger business includes domestic and international flights, while its cargo operations transport freight using dedicated aircraft and cargo capacity on passenger flights.