Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA) Short Interest Update

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Alcoa in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “sell” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Alcoa from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Alcoa from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Alcoa from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alcoa has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.88.

Insider Transactions at Alcoa

In related news, EVP Tammi A. Jones sold 26,468 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.78, for a total value of $814,685.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,166 shares in the company, valued at $1,267,089.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Institutional Trading of Alcoa

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AA. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,273,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $352,119,000 after purchasing an additional 271,387 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Alcoa by 24.9% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,941,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $172,665,000 after buying an additional 1,185,323 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in Alcoa by 4,737.1% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,578,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $208,174,000 after buying an additional 4,483,625 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Alcoa by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,312,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $146,626,000 after buying an additional 1,104,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Alcoa in the first quarter worth approximately $318,670,000.

Alcoa Price Performance

NYSE AA traded down $0.48 on Wednesday, reaching $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 twelve month low of $23.07 and a twelve month high of $42.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $30.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.93.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Alcoa had a negative net margin of 6.17% and a negative return on equity of 6.56%. The company had revenue of $2.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.70) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alcoa will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alcoa Announces Dividend

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