Basf Se (OTCMKTS:BASFY) Short Interest Down 17.3% in May

Basf Se (OTCMKTS:BASFY - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 165,300 shares, a decline of 17.3% from the April 30th total of 199,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 279,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.6 days. Approximately 0.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Basf Stock Up 0.8%

BASFY stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $12.00. The company had a trading volume of 68,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 225,189. Basf has a fifty-two week low of $10.57 and a fifty-two week high of $14.76. The company has a market capitalization of $42.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.87. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.10.

Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.03. Basf had a net margin of 0.78% and a return on equity of 6.63%. The company had revenue of $18.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.34 billion. Analysts forecast that Basf will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Basf Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were given a dividend of $0.4322 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.38%. Basf's dividend payout ratio is currently 191.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BASFY. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Basf from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Basf in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Basf from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Basf Company Profile

BASF SE operates as a chemical company worldwide. It operates through six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care, and Agricultural Solutions. The Chemicals segment provides petrochemicals and intermediates. The Materials segment offers advanced materials and their precursors for applications and systems comprising isocyanates, polyamides, and inorganic basic products, as well as specialties for plastics and plastics processing industries.