Basf Se (OTCMKTS:BASFY) Short Interest Up 124.0% in February

Basf Se (OTCMKTS:BASFY) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 58,700 shares, an increase of 124.0% from the January 31st total of 26,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 645,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Basf from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Basf from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Basf from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Basf Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of BASFY traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $12.66. 143,488 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 241,030. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company’s 50 day moving average is $11.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.98. The company has a market capitalization of $45.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.13, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.19. Basf has a 52 week low of $10.57 and a 52 week high of $14.89.

Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.05. Basf had a net margin of 0.78% and a return on equity of 6.63%. The business had revenue of $16.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.72 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Basf will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

About Basf

BASF SE operates as a chemical company worldwide. It operates through six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care, and Agricultural Solutions. The Chemicals segment provides petrochemicals and intermediates. The Materials segment offers advanced materials and their precursors for applications and systems comprising isocyanates, polyamides, and inorganic basic products, as well as specialties for plastics and plastics processing industries.