ArcelorMittal Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:MT)

ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 4,829 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 26% compared to the average volume of 3,822 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on MT. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of ArcelorMittal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $29.00 to $31.70 in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lowered ArcelorMittal from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered ArcelorMittal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.20 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ArcelorMittal has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.95.

ArcelorMittal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MT opened at $26.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.59. ArcelorMittal has a one year low of $20.52 and a one year high of $34.90. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.99. The company has a market capitalization of $21.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 1.60.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.09). ArcelorMittal had a return on equity of 4.31% and a net margin of 2.14%. Analysts anticipate that ArcelorMittal will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ArcelorMittal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.5%. ArcelorMittal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ArcelorMittal

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in ArcelorMittal by 68.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,464 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in ArcelorMittal by 221.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,403,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,712,000 after acquiring an additional 2,344,020 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in ArcelorMittal by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 67,562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,563,000 after acquiring an additional 13,141 shares during the period. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ArcelorMittal in the fourth quarter valued at about $207,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of ArcelorMittal by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 280,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,496,000 after purchasing an additional 12,929 shares during the period. 9.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About ArcelorMittal

ArcelorMittal SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated steel and mining companies in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It offers semi-finished flat products, including slabs; finished flat products comprising plates, hot- and cold-rolled coils and sheets, hot-dipped and electro-galvanized coils and sheets, tinplate, and color coated coils and sheets; semi-finished long products, such as blooms and billets; finished long products consisting of bars, wire-rods, structural sections, rails, sheet piles, and wire-products; and seamless and welded pipes and tubes.