Short Interest in American Vanguard Co. (NYSE:AVD) Drops By 35.7%

American Vanguard Co. (NYSE:AVD) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 906,600 shares, a drop of 35.7% from the February 29th total of 1,410,000 shares. Approximately 3.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 212,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days.

Institutional Trading of American Vanguard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of American Vanguard by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,830,965 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $90,339,000 after buying an additional 132,636 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of American Vanguard by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,312,686 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,993,000 after buying an additional 32,281 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Vanguard by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,168,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,560,000 after buying an additional 125,891 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of American Vanguard by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,685,126 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,486,000 after buying an additional 73,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of American Vanguard by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,293,771 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,225,000 after buying an additional 27,934 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of American Vanguard from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of American Vanguard in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of American Vanguard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th.

American Vanguard Price Performance

NYSE AVD traded up $0.30 on Friday, hitting $12.95. The stock had a trading volume of 174,037 shares, compared to its average volume of 227,840. American Vanguard has a 52-week low of $8.41 and a 52-week high of $22.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $372.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.00 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.11 and a 200-day moving average of $10.62.

American Vanguard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 27th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 26th. American Vanguard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.45%.

American Vanguard Company Profile

American Vanguard Corporation, through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets specialty chemicals for agricultural, commercial, and consumer uses in the United States and internationally. It manufactures and formulates chemicals, including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, molluscicides, soil health, plant nutrition, growth regulators, and soil fumigants in liquid, powder, and granular forms for crops, turf and ornamental plants, and human and animal health protection.