Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,100,000 shares, a growth of 19.0% from the February 28th total of 924,300 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 260,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Institutional Trading of Ternium

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TX. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Ternium by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 208,827 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,073,000 after acquiring an additional 28,054 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in Ternium by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 365,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,634,000 after purchasing an additional 79,935 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in Ternium in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $856,000. PointState Capital LP acquired a new stake in Ternium in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,112,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Ternium by 70.8% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 18,947 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 7,853 shares in the last quarter. 11.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Ternium in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Ternium from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th.

Ternium Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TX traded up $0.35 on Wednesday, reaching $31.24. 200,274 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 232,525. Ternium has a twelve month low of $28.00 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.56 and a 200-day moving average of $32.13. The company has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -111.57, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Ternium (NYSE:TX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported ($0.42) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($1.39). Ternium had a negative net margin of 0.31% and a positive return on equity of 1.82%. The firm had revenue of $3.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Ternium will post 4.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ternium Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a dividend yield of 10.3%. This is a boost from Ternium’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.09. Ternium’s payout ratio is -1,285.71%.

Ternium Company Profile

Ternium SA, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes steel products in Mexico, Southern Region, Brazil, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Steel, Mining, and Usiminas. The Steel segment offers slabs, hot and cold rolled products, coated products, roll formed and tubular products, bars, billets, and other products.