Short Interest in Basf Se (OTCMKTS:BASFY) Expands By 49.0%

Basf Se (OTCMKTS:BASFY - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 192,500 shares, a growth of 49.0% from the March 31st total of 129,200 shares. Approximately 0.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 686,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Basf Price Performance

BASFY traded down $0.35 during trading on Monday, hitting $12.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 157,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 246,817. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $12.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.11. Basf has a 12 month low of $10.57 and a 12 month high of $14.76.

Basf (OTCMKTS:BASFY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.41 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 firm had revenue of $18.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.34 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Basf will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Basf Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.4322 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. Basf's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 186.96%.

About Basf

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.