Short Interest in Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (NYSE:HLX) Increases By 5.4%

Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (NYSE:HLX - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,050,000 shares, an increase of 5.4% from the November 30th total of 6,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,910,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days. Currently, 4.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on HLX shares. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Helix Energy Solutions Group from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Helix Energy Solutions Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BTIG Research downgraded Helix Energy Solutions Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Raymond James initiated coverage on Helix Energy Solutions Group in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a "strong-buy" rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Diana Glassman sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.94, for a total transaction of $159,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,133 shares in the company, valued at $259,762.02. This trade represents a 37.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Scott Andrew Sparks sold 170,000 shares of Helix Energy Solutions Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.87, for a total value of $1,677,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 112,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,111,697.58. This represents a 60.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 484,419 shares of company stock valued at $5,394,094 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.37% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Helix Energy Solutions Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Helix Energy Solutions Group by 1.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,077,400 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $12,864,000 after acquiring an additional 14,762 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Helix Energy Solutions Group by 87.8% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,489,359 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $17,783,000 after purchasing an additional 696,395 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Helix Energy Solutions Group by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,535 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 1,187 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC bought a new stake in shares of Helix Energy Solutions Group during the second quarter valued at about $250,000. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its position in shares of Helix Energy Solutions Group by 18.1% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 146,429 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,748,000 after buying an additional 22,442 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.33% of the company's stock.

Helix Energy Solutions Group Stock Performance

Shares of HLX stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $9.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 922,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,776,875. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of 233.06 and a beta of 2.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $9.90 and a 200-day moving average of $10.57. Helix Energy Solutions Group has a 52 week low of $8.81 and a 52 week high of $13.05.

Helix Energy Solutions Group (NYSE:HLX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $342.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $354.74 million. Helix Energy Solutions Group had a net margin of 0.54% and a return on equity of 4.39%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Helix Energy Solutions Group will post 0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Helix Energy Solutions Group Company Profile

Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, an offshore energy services company, provides specialty services to the offshore energy industry in Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, the East Coast of the United States, North Sea, the Asia Pacific, and West Africa regions. The company operates through four segments: Well Intervention, Robotics, Production Facilities, and Shallow Water Abandonment segments.