Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) Short Interest Down 10.4% in December

Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) was the target of a large drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 399,500 shares, a drop of 10.4% from the December 15th total of 446,000 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 137,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Kaiser Aluminum during the third quarter worth about $41,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kaiser Aluminum during the third quarter worth $65,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in Kaiser Aluminum by 125.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,282 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in Kaiser Aluminum in the 3rd quarter worth $169,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new position in Kaiser Aluminum during the 2nd quarter worth about $207,000. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Kaiser Aluminum Price Performance

Shares of KALU stock traded down $0.69 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $73.68. 67,171 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 89,793. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $76.20 and its 200-day moving average is $75.99. The stock has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.49 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Kaiser Aluminum has a 52 week low of $59.52 and a 52 week high of $102.42.

Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.16). Kaiser Aluminum had a return on equity of 6.92% and a net margin of 1.59%. The company had revenue of $748.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Kaiser Aluminum will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Kaiser Aluminum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Kaiser Aluminum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 106.57%.

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.