SunCoke Energy, Inc. (NYSE:SXC) Short Interest Up 19.0% in February

SunCoke Energy, Inc. (NYSE:SXC) saw a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,950,000 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the February 13th total of 3,320,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Approximately 4.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of SunCoke Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SXC. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of SunCoke Energy by 835.6% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,630 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 3,242 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of SunCoke Energy by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,156 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 1,730 shares in the last quarter. Virtus Fund Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SunCoke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of SunCoke Energy by 61.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,082 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 2,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of SunCoke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $118,000. 90.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SunCoke Energy Stock Performance

SXC stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.22. 1,193,717 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 797,596. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $777.30 million, a PE ratio of 8.23 and a beta of 0.98. SunCoke Energy has a 1 year low of $7.47 and a 1 year high of $12.82.

SunCoke Energy (NYSE:SXC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The energy company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.04. SunCoke Energy had a return on equity of 14.31% and a net margin of 4.95%. On average, equities analysts expect that SunCoke Energy will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SunCoke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. SunCoke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.86%.

About SunCoke Energy

SunCoke Energy, Inc operates as an independent producer of coke in the Americas and Brazil. The company operates through three segments: Domestic Coke, Brazil Coke, and Logistics. It offers metallurgical and thermal coal. The company also provides handling and/or mixing services to steel, coke, electric utility, coal producing, and other manufacturing based customers.