Basf Se (OTCMKTS:BASFY) Short Interest Up 48.6% in March

Basf Se (OTCMKTS:BASFY) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 142,598 shares, a growth of 48.6% from the February 26th total of 95,941 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 338,463 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.4 days. Approximately 0.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Basf from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Basf in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Basf from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Barclays cut shares of Basf from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Basf from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Basf presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Basf Price Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS:BASFY opened at $14.94 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.93. The firm has a market cap of $53.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.17. Basf has a fifty-two week low of $10.75 and a fifty-two week high of $15.60.

Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The basic materials company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.42). Basf had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 4.37%. The company had revenue of $16.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. On average, analysts expect that Basf will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

About Basf

BASF SE is a Germany-based chemical company founded in 1865 (originally Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik) and headquartered in Ludwigshafen. It is one of the world’s largest chemical producers, supplying raw materials, intermediates and finished chemical products to a broad range of industries including automotive, construction, agriculture, consumer goods, electronics and industrial manufacturing. The company combines large-scale production with global commercial and logistics networks to serve customers in many end markets.

BASF’s activities span basic and specialty chemicals, performance materials, functional additives, catalysts and coatings, as well as products for nutrition and personal care.