Short Interest in The Chemours Company (NYSE:CC) Rises By 9.4%

The Chemours Company (NYSE:CC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,340,000 shares, a growth of 9.4% from the March 31st total of 4,880,000 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,040,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chemours

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Chemours by 53.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 14,340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 4,965 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its position in Chemours by 1,510.0% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 1,288 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in Chemours during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $201,000. SpiderRock Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Chemours during the 1st quarter worth approximately $284,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Chemours by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 74,620 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,960,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. 76.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Chemours Price Performance

Shares of CC opened at $25.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.40, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Chemours has a 1-year low of $15.10 and a 1-year high of $39.05. The stock has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a PE ratio of -16.75 and a beta of 2.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.85.

Chemours (NYSE:CC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.35 billion. Chemours had a positive return on equity of 51.73% and a negative net margin of 3.80%. The business’s revenue was down 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Chemours will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

Chemours Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Chemours’s payout ratio is currently -64.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CC shares. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Chemours from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Chemours from $21.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Chemours from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Chemours has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.63.

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.