Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) Short Interest Update

Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 522,700 shares, a growth of 13.5% from the May 15th total of 460,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 170,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kaiser Aluminum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 6.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,146 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 1.2% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 35,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,642,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 259,307 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $19,515,000 after acquiring an additional 4,685 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Kaiser Aluminum by 27.8% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 1,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 0.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,877,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $141,269,000 after purchasing an additional 8,771 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KALU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Kaiser Aluminum from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 target price on shares of Kaiser Aluminum in a research report on Friday, April 19th.

Kaiser Aluminum Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of KALU stock traded down $2.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $89.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 136,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 119,857. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 2.66. Kaiser Aluminum has a 52-week low of $53.67 and a 52-week high of $102.42. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $94.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.58.

Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $738.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.34 million. Kaiser Aluminum had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 8.40%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. Research analysts predict that Kaiser Aluminum will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kaiser Aluminum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 25th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 24th. Kaiser Aluminum’s payout ratio is 89.53%.

Kaiser Aluminum Company Profile

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in manufacture and sale of semi-fabricated specialty aluminum mill products in the United States and internationally. It offers rolled, extruded, and drawn aluminum products used for aerospace and defense, aluminum beverage and food packaging, automotive and general engineering products.