Short Interest in Magna International Inc. (NYSE:MGA) Expands By 67.3%

Magna International Inc. (NYSE:MGA - Get Free Report) TSE: MG saw a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 15,830,000 shares, a growth of 67.3% from the February 13th total of 9,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,740,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.1 days. Approximately 6.0% of the company's shares are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Magna International

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MGA. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Magna International by 10.7% in the third quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 43,484 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,785,000 after purchasing an additional 4,209 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in shares of Magna International by 12.5% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 149,327 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,128,000 after purchasing an additional 16,639 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Magna International by 117,113.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 84,394 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,464,000 after purchasing an additional 84,322 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Magna International in the third quarter valued at about $40,710,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Magna International in the third quarter valued at about $1,040,000. 67.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MGA. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Magna International from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Raymond James lowered their target price on Magna International from $53.00 to $50.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America cut Magna International from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $52.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Magna International from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Magna International from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $42.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $47.03.

Magna International Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:MGA traded down $0.51 on Wednesday, reaching $36.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,540,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,690,395. Magna International has a 1-year low of $33.30 and a 1-year high of $56.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $10.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.65. The business's 50-day moving average price is $38.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.07.

Magna International (NYSE:MGA - Get Free Report) TSE: MG last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The company reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.23. Magna International had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 2.36%. The firm had revenue of $10.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.33 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Magna International will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Magna International Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.35%. This is a positive change from Magna International's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Magna International's payout ratio is 55.27%.

About Magna International

Magna International Inc designs, engineers, and manufactures components, assemblies, systems, subsystems, and modules for original equipment manufacturers of vehicles and light trucks worldwide. It operates through four segments: Body Exteriors & Structures, Power & Vision, Seating Systems, and Complete Vehicles.