ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,480,000 shares, an increase of 28.6% from the December 31st total of 4,260,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,610,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days. Approximately 0.7% of the company's stock are short sold.

ArcelorMittal Stock Performance

MT stock traded up $2.84 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $28.32. 6,725,837 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,083,668. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.20 billion, a PE ratio of -20.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.74. ArcelorMittal has a 52 week low of $20.52 and a 52 week high of $28.95.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.09). ArcelorMittal had a negative net margin of 1.99% and a positive return on equity of 5.26%. As a group, equities analysts predict that ArcelorMittal will post 2.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ArcelorMittal

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in ArcelorMittal in the 4th quarter valued at $256,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ArcelorMittal during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,777,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ArcelorMittal by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 67,562 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,563,000 after buying an additional 13,141 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in ArcelorMittal by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,963 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 2,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in ArcelorMittal by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,085 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $349,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.29% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MT. Bank of America raised shares of ArcelorMittal from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $32.90 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered ArcelorMittal from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ArcelorMittal currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $31.17.

About ArcelorMittal

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.