ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) Short Interest Update

ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) saw a significant decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,460,000 shares, a decline of 21.5% from the February 13th total of 5,680,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 0.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of ArcelorMittal from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ArcelorMittal has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.17.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ArcelorMittal

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in ArcelorMittal by 221.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,403,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,712,000 after buying an additional 2,344,020 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in ArcelorMittal by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,029,028 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $70,061,000 after buying an additional 91,363 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in ArcelorMittal by 146.7% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,535,319 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,512,000 after buying an additional 912,984 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in ArcelorMittal by 46.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in ArcelorMittal by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,153,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,690,000 after buying an additional 277,891 shares in the last quarter. 9.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ArcelorMittal Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE MT traded down $0.19 during trading on Monday, hitting $32.04. 1,485,103 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,784,907. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.59. ArcelorMittal has a 12-month low of $20.52 and a 12-month high of $34.90. The firm has a market cap of $26.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 1.79.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.09). ArcelorMittal had a net margin of 2.14% and a return on equity of 4.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ArcelorMittal will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

ArcelorMittal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.5%. This is an increase from ArcelorMittal’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. ArcelorMittal’s dividend payout ratio is 25.45%.

ArcelorMittal Company Profile

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.