TriMas Co. (NASDAQ:TRS) Short Interest Up 468.8% in April

TriMas Co. (NASDAQ:TRS - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,150,000 shares, an increase of 468.8% from the April 15th total of 378,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 263,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.2 days. Approximately 5.4% of the company's shares are short sold.

TriMas Price Performance

TRS stock traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $26.80. The company had a trading volume of 177,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 291,091. The company has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.63 and a beta of 0.71. TriMas has a 12-month low of $22.59 and a 12-month high of $29.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $25.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.20.

TriMas (NASDAQ:TRS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.09. TriMas had a return on equity of 9.68% and a net margin of 4.48%. The firm had revenue of $227.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that TriMas will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

TriMas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. TriMas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.49%.

Insider Transactions at TriMas

In other news, Director Herbert K. Parker bought 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.27 per share, for a total transaction of $157,620.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 51,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,343,894.39. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Thomas A. Amato acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $23.62 per share, for a total transaction of $236,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,759,288.16. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Herbert K. Parker acquired 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.27 per share, with a total value of $157,620.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 51,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,343,894.39. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 25,600 shares of company stock worth $644,942. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of TriMas

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TriMas in the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in shares of TriMas by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 8,933 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of TriMas by 31.4% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,089 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,173 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TriMas in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $308,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of TriMas by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 15,095 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. 99.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BWS Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of TriMas in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st.

About TriMas

TriMas Corporation engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of products for consumer products, aerospace, and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates through Packaging, Aerospace, and Specialty Products segments. The Packaging segment offers dispensing products, such as foaming and sanitizer pumps, lotion and hand soap pumps, beverage dispensers, perfume sprayers, and nasal and trigger sprayers; polymeric and steel caps and closures comprising food lids, flip-top and beverage closures, child resistance caps, drum and pail closures, and flexible spouts; polymeric jar products; integrated dispensers; bag-in-box products; and consumable vascular delivery and diagnostic test components under the Rieke, Taplast, Affaba & Ferrari, Intertech, Omega, and Rapak brands.