Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) Short Interest Down 14.6% in August

Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 412,400 shares, a decline of 14.6% from the August 15th total of 482,800 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 138,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Kaiser Aluminum Price Performance

KALU stock traded up $0.65 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $70.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 184,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 141,770. Kaiser Aluminum has a 12 month low of $53.67 and a 12 month high of $102.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.45 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $76.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.10.

Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.29). Kaiser Aluminum had a return on equity of 6.84% and a net margin of 1.37%. The business had revenue of $773.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $773.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Kaiser Aluminum will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Kaiser Aluminum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 25th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 25th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.39%. Kaiser Aluminum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Benchmark boosted their target price on Kaiser Aluminum from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Keith Harvey purchased 2,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $77.23 per share, for a total transaction of $199,871.24. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 103,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,166.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Kaiser Aluminum by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,887,751 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,389,000 after buying an additional 10,676 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Kaiser Aluminum during the 1st quarter valued at $593,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Kaiser Aluminum during the 1st quarter valued at $1,264,000. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in Kaiser Aluminum in the second quarter worth $726,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Kaiser Aluminum by 10.3% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 226,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,211,000 after purchasing an additional 21,192 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.