Braskem S.A. (NYSE:BAK) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Braskem’s short interest surged 77% from August 15 to August 31, reaching 6.06 million shares, or 1.5% of shares outstanding. The short-interest ratio stood at 1.6 days based on average trading volume.
• BAK shares fell 16% to $1.76, with the stock trading well below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Braskem reported a negative net margin of 7.28% and negative return on equity of 67.75%.
• Analyst sentiment is strongly bearish: JPMorgan, UBS, and Citigroup downgraded the stock, while UBS lowered its price target to $1.50. The consensus rating is “Strong Sell,” with an average target price of $2.83.

Braskem S.A. (NYSE:BAK - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 6,059,110 shares, a growth of 77.0% from the August 15th total of 3,422,532 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,731,655 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Braskem

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Braskem by 444.4% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,579 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 7,003 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in Braskem in the first quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Citadel Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Braskem during the second quarter worth $89,000. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Braskem in the 1st quarter valued at $157,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Braskem by 178,471.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 50,000 shares of the company's stock worth $183,000 after buying an additional 49,972 shares in the last quarter.

Braskem Trading Down 16.0%

Shares of NYSE:BAK traded down $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $1.76. 2,604,219 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,416,358. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $2.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.24. Braskem has a 12 month low of $1.40 and a 12 month high of $5.39. The firm has a market cap of $703.53 million, a PE ratio of -0.73, a PEG ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 1.56.

Braskem (NYSE:BAK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 26th. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter. Braskem had a negative net margin of 7.28% and a negative return on equity of 67.75%. The business had revenue of $4.20 billion for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Braskem will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on BAK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Braskem from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. UBS Group cut Braskem from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $4.00 to $1.50 in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Braskem in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Braskem from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Braskem currently has a consensus rating of "Strong Sell" and an average target price of $2.83.

About Braskem

Braskem SA is a Brazilian petrochemical company headquartered in São Paulo. Established in 2002 through the combination of Odebrecht Química and the petrochemical company Copene, Braskem has developed into one of Latin America's major producers of thermoplastic resins and basic petrochemicals.

The company manufactures polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which are used in packaging, construction, automotive components, consumer goods and other industrial applications.

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