Unison Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Ferroglobe PLC $GSM

Unison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ferroglobe PLC (NASDAQ:GSM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 156,142 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $724,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ferroglobe by 1,068.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,558,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,719,000 after buying an additional 1,424,998 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ferroglobe in the 3rd quarter worth $5,872,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its holdings in Ferroglobe by 19.8% during the second quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 7,811,120 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,667,000 after acquiring an additional 1,288,610 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ferroglobe during the third quarter valued at about $3,231,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ferroglobe by 168.8% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,110,759 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,121,000 after acquiring an additional 697,476 shares in the last quarter. 89.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ferroglobe in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised Ferroglobe from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Ferroglobe from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.00.

Ferroglobe Price Performance

Ferroglobe stock opened at $4.07 on Monday. Ferroglobe PLC has a 52-week low of $2.97 and a 52-week high of $5.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $4.73 and its 200 day moving average is $4.68. The company has a market cap of $759.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.42 and a beta of 1.02.

Ferroglobe (NASDAQ:GSM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.01. Ferroglobe had a negative net margin of 12.78% and a negative return on equity of 8.65%. The business had revenue of $329.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $293.60 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ferroglobe PLC will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ferroglobe Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 23rd were given a $0.015 dividend. This is an increase from Ferroglobe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 23rd. Ferroglobe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -6.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Madrid Javier Lopez purchased 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $3.86 per share, for a total transaction of $100,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 147,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,192. The trade was a 21.45% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director De Fuentes Silvia Villar-Mir purchased 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $3.86 per share, with a total value of $100,360.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 121,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $467,932.36. This represents a 27.30% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 13.07% of the company’s stock.

Ferroglobe Profile

Ferroglobe PLC is a leading producer of specialty metals and alloys, serving a diverse range of industrial customers worldwide. The company’s core operations focus on the manufacture of silicon metal, silicon-based alloys, manganese-based alloys and rare earth alloys, which are essential inputs for the aluminum, steel, chemical and electronics industries. Ferroglobe’s product portfolio includes high-purity silicon, ferrosilicon, silicon manganese, manganese alloys and various recarburizers used to enhance metal strength, durability and conductivity.

With production facilities located across North America, Europe, South America and Africa, Ferroglobe maintains a global footprint that allows it to supply customers on multiple continents.