BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE:BWA) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE:BWA) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,600,000 shares, an increase of 9.7% from the November 30th total of 8,750,000 shares. Currently, 4.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised BorgWarner from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $39.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BorgWarner from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on BorgWarner from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of BorgWarner in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on BorgWarner in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.07.

BorgWarner Price Performance

BorgWarner stock opened at $31.79 on Thursday. BorgWarner has a one year low of $29.51 and a one year high of $38.22. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.07, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.19.

BorgWarner (NYSE:BWA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The auto parts company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.17. BorgWarner had a return on equity of 15.51% and a net margin of 6.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BorgWarner will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

BorgWarner Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. BorgWarner’s payout ratio is currently 11.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Isabelle Mckenzie sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.62, for a total value of $197,334.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 37,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,303,096.80. This represents a 13.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Stefan Demmerle sold 20,544 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.28, for a total value of $704,248.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 206,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,094,897.32. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 222,010 shares of company stock valued at $7,678,076. 0.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BorgWarner

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of BorgWarner by 24.2% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 50,014 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,612,000 after buying an additional 9,743 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in BorgWarner by 14.8% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 22,045 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 2,845 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in BorgWarner during the second quarter valued at about $212,000. IFG Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in BorgWarner during the second quarter valued at about $223,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in BorgWarner by 1.2% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 97,961 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares in the last quarter. 95.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About BorgWarner

BorgWarner Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides solutions for combustion, hybrid, and electric vehicles worldwide. It offers turbochargers, eBoosters, eTurbos, timing systems, emissions systems, thermal systems, gasoline ignition technology, smart remote actuators, powertrain sensors, cabin heaters, battery modules and systems, battery heaters, and battery charging.