Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of 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. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 138,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kaiser Aluminum news, CEO Keith Harvey acquired 2,588 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $77.23 per share, for a total transaction of $199,871.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 103,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,166.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kaiser Aluminum

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new stake in Kaiser Aluminum in the second quarter valued at $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Kaiser Aluminum by 400.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 540 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Kaiser Aluminum during the second quarter worth about $63,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 79.7% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 941.4% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kaiser Aluminum Stock Performance

Shares of KALU traded up $0.82 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $70.35. 34,529 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 140,938. Kaiser Aluminum has a 52-week low of $53.67 and a 52-week high of $102.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 20.21 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.13.

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

Kaiser Aluminum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 25th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 25th. Kaiser Aluminum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.53%.

About Kaiser Aluminum

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.