Howmet Aerospace Inc. (NYSE:HWM) Short Interest Update

Howmet Aerospace Inc. (NYSE:HWM) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,070,000 shares, a decline of 8.8% from the June 30th total of 11,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,980,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Howmet Aerospace Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE HWM traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $94.87. 2,984,073 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,241,162. The company has a market cap of $38.72 billion, a PE ratio of 45.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Howmet Aerospace has a 52 week low of $42.94 and a 52 week high of $97.29. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.62.

Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Howmet Aerospace had a net margin of 13.15% and a return on equity of 23.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Howmet Aerospace will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Howmet Aerospace Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This is a boost from Howmet Aerospace’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. Howmet Aerospace’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on HWM. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Howmet Aerospace from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Howmet Aerospace in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on Howmet Aerospace from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Argus raised their price target on Howmet Aerospace from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Howmet Aerospace from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Howmet Aerospace

In other news, EVP Neil Edward Marchuk sold 32,614 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.26, for a total value of $2,748,055.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 217,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,342,306.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Howmet Aerospace in the 4th quarter worth $508,006,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Howmet Aerospace by 28.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,130,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $966,959,000 after purchasing an additional 3,158,186 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Howmet Aerospace by 18.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,877,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,358,000 after purchasing an additional 2,813,911 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Howmet Aerospace by 986.0% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,697,449 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,586,000 after buying an additional 2,449,057 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in Howmet Aerospace during the 1st quarter worth approximately $148,996,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.46% of the company’s stock.

Howmet Aerospace Company Profile

Howmet Aerospace Inc provides advanced engineered solutions for the aerospace and transportation industries in the United States, Japan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Engine Products, Fastening Systems, Engineered Structures, and Forged Wheels.