Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX) Short Interest Update

Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 656,000 shares, a decline of 18.1% from the October 15th total of 801,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 179,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ternium

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Ternium in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,743,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ternium by 422.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 174,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,443,000 after purchasing an additional 141,134 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ternium in the third quarter worth about $244,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Ternium in the 3rd quarter worth about $242,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its holdings in Ternium by 155.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 19,714 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $728,000 after buying an additional 11,983 shares in the last quarter. 11.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ternium Trading Up 2.3 %

TX traded up $0.77 on Friday, hitting $34.19. The company had a trading volume of 203,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 207,198. The company has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a PE ratio of 84.75, a PEG ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 1.77. Ternium has a 12-month low of $30.68 and a 12-month high of $44.44. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Ternium (NYSE:TX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.04. Ternium had a return on equity of 4.70% and a net margin of 0.42%. The company had revenue of $4.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. Ternium’s revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ternium will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Ternium Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a dividend yield of 8.5%. Ternium’s dividend payout ratio is 1,100.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Ternium from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.33.

About Ternium

Ternium SA, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes steel products in Mexico, Southern Region, Brazil, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Steel, Mining, and Usiminas. The Steel segment offers slabs, hot and cold rolled products, coated products, roll formed and tubular products, bars, billets, and other products.