The Chemours Company (NYSE:CC) Short Interest Up 19.5% in March

The Chemours Company (NYSE:CC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,530,000 shares, an increase of 19.5% from the February 28th total of 8,810,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.2 days. Approximately 7.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Chemours

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Chemours by 99.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in Chemours by 100.4% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Chemours during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Chemours by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 3,554 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Chemours in the fourth quarter valued at about $91,000. 76.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Chemours Price Performance

Shares of Chemours stock traded down $1.40 during trading on Thursday, reaching $11.66. 2,415,082 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,739,820. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.11. Chemours has a 52-week low of $11.43 and a 52-week high of $29.21. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.46 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.70, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Chemours (NYSE:CC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Chemours had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 26.54%. Sell-side analysts expect that Chemours will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Chemours Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Chemours’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 175.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Chemours from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Chemours from $34.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Chemours in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Chemours in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Chemours from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.56.

Chemours Company Profile

The Chemours Company provides performance chemicals in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It operates through three segments: Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials. The Titanium Technologies segment provides TiO2 pigment under the Ti-Pure brand for delivering whiteness, brightness, opacity, durability, efficiency, and protection in various of applications, such as architectural and industrial coatings, flexible and rigid plastic packaging, polyvinylchloride, laminate papers used for furniture and building materials, coated paper, and coated paperboard used for packaging.