Dana Incorporated (NYSE:DAN) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Dana Incorporated (NYSE:DAN) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,880,000 shares, a growth of 8.9% from the November 30th total of 4,480,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,380,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 3.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Dana Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE DAN opened at $11.56 on Thursday. Dana has a 12-month low of $7.58 and a 12-month high of $14.89. The company has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -105.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $10.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.85.

Dana (NYSE:DAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The auto parts company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.13). Dana had a negative net margin of 0.15% and a positive return on equity of 3.48%. The company had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Dana will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dana Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. Dana’s payout ratio is currently -363.64%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dana

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAN. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Dana in the 3rd quarter valued at about $250,000. Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new position in Dana in the 3rd quarter valued at about $346,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Dana by 81.8% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 58,274 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 26,225 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in Dana in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,687,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Dana by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 426,586 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $5,170,000 after buying an additional 5,468 shares during the last quarter. 96.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on DAN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Dana from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $9.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded Dana from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $16.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Dana from $7.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com downgraded Dana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Dana in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.29.

Dana Company Profile

Dana Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides power-conveyance and energy-management solutions for vehicles and machinery in North America, Europe, South America, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through four segments: Light Vehicle Drive Systems, Commercial Vehicle Drive and Motion Systems, Off-Highway Drive and Motion Systems, and Power Technologies.