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

BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE:BWA) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,770,000 shares, a decline of 15.2% from the February 28th total of 12,700,000 shares. Approximately 5.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,440,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Tania Wingfield sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.79, for a total transaction of $690,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 39,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,125,976.90. This trade represents a 38.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Tonit M. Calaway sold 13,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.16, for a total value of $407,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 259,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,820,789.60. This represents a 4.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,800 shares of company stock worth $1,347,701. Corporate insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BorgWarner

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BWA. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in shares of BorgWarner by 1,515.0% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 969 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of BorgWarner in the third quarter worth $38,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of BorgWarner in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BorgWarner by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in BorgWarner during the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. 95.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BorgWarner Stock Performance

NYSE:BWA traded down $1.85 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $27.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,356,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,765,446. BorgWarner has a 12-month low of $27.17 and a 12-month high of $38.23. The stock has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.36.

BorgWarner (NYSE:BWA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The auto parts company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.08. BorgWarner had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 15.93%. On average, equities analysts expect that BorgWarner will post 4.28 EPS for the current year.

BorgWarner Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. BorgWarner’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on BWA. StockNews.com raised BorgWarner from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BorgWarner from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on BorgWarner from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cowen downgraded shares of BorgWarner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of BorgWarner from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.06.

BorgWarner Company Profile

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.