ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) saw an uptick in trading volume on Thursday . 3,179,128 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 85% from the previous session’s volume of 1,717,604 shares.The stock last traded at $34.62 and had previously closed at $33.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MT. Bank of America upgraded shares of ArcelorMittal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $32.90 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of ArcelorMittal from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ArcelorMittal presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.17.

ArcelorMittal Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 1.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.86.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) last issued its earnings results 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%. As a group, analysts expect that ArcelorMittal S.A. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ArcelorMittal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of ArcelorMittal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,521,000. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in ArcelorMittal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in ArcelorMittal by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 144,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,345,000 after acquiring an additional 30,280 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in ArcelorMittal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,055,000. Finally, Mork Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in ArcelorMittal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $999,000. 9.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ArcelorMittal Company Profile

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.