Short Interest in Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV) Increases By 10.6%

Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,810,000 shares, a growth of 10.6% from the November 30th total of 2,540,000 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 785,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Autoliv from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Autoliv in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Autoliv from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Autoliv from $137.00 to $134.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 target price on shares of Autoliv in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.46.

Institutional Trading of Autoliv

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Autoliv by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,504,605 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $607,335,000 after acquiring an additional 376,665 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Autoliv by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,567,281 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $239,707,000 after acquiring an additional 205,241 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Autoliv by 3.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,316,874 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $140,892,000 after acquiring an additional 40,957 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its position in Autoliv by 21.8% in the second quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 1,160,076 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $117,330,000 after acquiring an additional 207,521 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Autoliv by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 987,375 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $92,221,000 after acquiring an additional 95,888 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.57% of the company’s stock.

Autoliv Price Performance

Autoliv stock traded up $0.81 on Wednesday, reaching $93.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 420,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 698,267. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $96.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.96. Autoliv has a twelve month low of $89.51 and a twelve month high of $129.38. The company has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.59.

Autoliv (NYSE:ALV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The auto parts company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.16). Autoliv had a return on equity of 30.85% and a net margin of 5.98%. The business had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Autoliv will post 8.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Autoliv Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $0.70 dividend. This is a boost from Autoliv’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Autoliv’s payout ratio is 36.46%.

Autoliv Company Profile

Autoliv, Inc, through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and supplies passive safety systems to the automotive industry in Europe, the Americas, China, Japan, and rest of Asia. It offers passive safety systems, including modules and components for frontal-impact airbag protection systems, side-impact airbag protection systems, seatbelts, steering wheels, and inflator technologies.