Owens Corning Inc (NYSE:OC) Short Interest Update

Owens Corning Inc (NYSE:OC - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,510,000 shares, an increase of 41.1% from the May 15th total of 1,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Owens Corning

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Owens Corning by 12.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,815,685 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,401,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,855 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Owens Corning by 67.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,380,123 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $339,930,000 after purchasing an additional 957,295 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its position in Owens Corning by 1.9% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,476,067 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $210,812,000 after purchasing an additional 27,185 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Owens Corning in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,519,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Owens Corning by 27.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 964,861 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $164,335,000 after purchasing an additional 207,677 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.40% of the company's stock.

Owens Corning Trading Down 1.5%

OC traded down $2.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $130.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,078,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 861,483. Owens Corning has a fifty-two week low of $123.41 and a fifty-two week high of $214.53. The stock has a market cap of $11.10 billion, a PE ratio of 45.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 1.34. The business's 50-day moving average is $138.32 and its 200-day moving average is $157.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Owens Corning (NYSE:OC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The construction company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.15. Owens Corning had a return on equity of 25.03% and a net margin of 2.28%. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.40 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Owens Corning will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Owens Corning Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. Owens Corning's payout ratio is 97.18%.

Owens Corning announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 14th that permits the company to repurchase 12,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the construction company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on OC. Wolfe Research upgraded Owens Corning from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Owens Corning from $203.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Benchmark restated a "hold" rating on shares of Owens Corning in a report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on Owens Corning from $235.00 to $218.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Owens Corning from $179.00 to $167.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $183.80.

Owens Corning Company Profile

Owens Corning manufactures and sells building and construction materials in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Roofing, Insulation, and Composites. The Roofing segment manufactures and sells laminate and strip asphalt roofing shingles, oxidized asphalt materials, and roofing components used in residential and commercial construction, and specialty applications.