Alto Ingredients, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTO) Short Interest Up 57.6% in May

Alto Ingredients, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTO) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 2,291,177 shares, a growth of 57.6% from the May 14th total of 1,454,213 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,222,577 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Alto Ingredients Price Performance

Shares of Alto Ingredients stock opened at $5.54 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.54, a current ratio of 3.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $429.29 million, a PE ratio of 14.97 and a beta of 0.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $5.08 and a 200 day moving average of $3.78. Alto Ingredients has a 52 week low of $0.92 and a 52 week high of $5.99.

Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.13. The company had revenue of $224.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.65 million. Alto Ingredients had a return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 3.20%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alto Ingredients will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gilbert E. Nathan bought 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.61 per share, for a total transaction of $92,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 769,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,506.01. This represents a 2.67% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alto Ingredients

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALTO. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new stake in Alto Ingredients during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in Alto Ingredients during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Alto Ingredients during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Alto Ingredients during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Alto Ingredients during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on ALTO shares. Zacks Research upgraded Alto Ingredients from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Alto Ingredients from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Alto Ingredients from $5.50 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Alto Ingredients from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

Alto Ingredients Company Profile

Alto Ingredients, Inc (NASDAQ: ALTO) is a diversified producer of alcohol-based products and specialty ingredients for industrial, food, beverage and personal care applications. The company’s core offering centers on ethanol produced for fuel markets, as well as an expanding portfolio of natural and organic alcohols, glycerin and other ingredient solutions. Alto’s product lines serve a range of end markets, including renewable fuels, confectionery, flavorings, cosmetics and sanitizers.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Alto Ingredients operates a network of production facilities across the United States.