AK Steel Holding Corporation (AKS) Short Interest Down 5.6% in July

AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of July. As of July 14th, there was short interest totalling 52,575,123 shares, a decline of 5.6% from the June 30th total of 55,709,996 shares. Currently, 17.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 17,513,176 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

AK Steel Holding Corporation (AKS) opened at 5.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.72 and a beta of 2.86. AK Steel Holding Corporation has a 12 month low of $3.87 and a 12 month high of $11.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $6.00 and its 200-day moving average is $6.76.

AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.06. AK Steel Holding Corporation had a net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 735.25%. The company had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that AK Steel Holding Corporation will post $0.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AKS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup Inc. raised shares of AK Steel Holding Corporation from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $8.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Jefferies Group LLC upped their target price on shares of AK Steel Holding Corporation from $9.00 to $11.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Macquarie raised shares of AK Steel Holding Corporation from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $7.30 to $8.10 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Cowen and Company reduced their price target on shares of AK Steel Holding Corporation from $9.00 to $7.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of AK Steel Holding Corporation from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. AK Steel Holding Corporation has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.06.

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in AK Steel Holding Corporation by 52,055.2% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 39,293,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,518,000 after buying an additional 39,217,839 shares in the last quarter. TIAA CREF Investment Management LLC increased its stake in AK Steel Holding Corporation by 25.6% in the first quarter. TIAA CREF Investment Management LLC now owns 16,463,348 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $118,371,000 after buying an additional 3,357,464 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC increased its stake in AK Steel Holding Corporation by 63.5% in the first quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC now owns 8,114,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,340,000 after buying an additional 3,150,282 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in AK Steel Holding Corporation by 82.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,389,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,751,000 after buying an additional 2,436,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AK Steel Holding Corporation by 6.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,074,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $266,566,000 after buying an additional 2,308,220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.75% of the company’s stock.

About AK Steel Holding Corporation

AK Steel Holding Corporation is a producer of flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, and tubular products through its subsidiary, AK Steel Corporation (AK Steel). The Company also operates blast furnaces and electric arc furnaces. As of December 31, 2016, its operations included eight steelmaking and finishing plants, two coke plants and two tube manufacturing plants across states, including Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and a tube manufacturing plant in Mexico.