Short Interest in Montauk Renewables, Inc. (NASDAQ:MNTK) Drops By 44.8%

Key Points

• Short interest fell 44.8% — short interest dropped to 1,173,443 shares as of April 15 (from 2,124,857 on March 31), giving a short-interest ratio of 5.1 days and about 1.8% of the float shorted.
• Institutions added shares — several investors including Renaissance, Invesco, Jane Street and AllianceBernstein increased stakes, and institutional/hedge fund ownership totals approximately 16.35%.
• Mixed price and analyst backdrop — MNTK traded around $1.39 with a market cap near $199M after an earnings miss, and the consensus rating is "Hold" with a $1.80 target while some firms (Scotiabank, UBS) have cut their targets.

Montauk Renewables, Inc. (NASDAQ:MNTK - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,173,443 shares, a decline of 44.8% from the March 31st total of 2,124,857 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 228,455 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.1 days. Approximately 1.8% of the company's stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Montauk Renewables

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MNTK. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Montauk Renewables by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 97,520 shares of the company's stock valued at $196,000 after buying an additional 6,300 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Montauk Renewables by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 342,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $572,000 after buying an additional 6,300 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Montauk Renewables by 92.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,175 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 6,323 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Montauk Renewables by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 107,351 shares of the company's stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 6,517 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Montauk Renewables by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 31,055 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 8,054 shares during the last quarter. 16.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Montauk Renewables Price Performance

NASDAQ:MNTK traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $1.39. 180,725 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 256,986. The company has a market capitalization of $199.10 million, a P/E ratio of 69.53 and a beta of 0.18. Montauk Renewables has a 12 month low of $1.07 and a 12 month high of $2.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $1.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.63.

Montauk Renewables (NASDAQ:MNTK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 11th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.04). Montauk Renewables had a net margin of 0.15% and a return on equity of 0.10%. The company had revenue of $43.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.39 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Montauk Renewables will post 0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MNTK shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Montauk Renewables from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Montauk Renewables in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Montauk Renewables from $4.00 to $2.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group decreased their price target on Montauk Renewables from $2.85 to $1.60 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Montauk Renewables from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $1.80.

About Montauk Renewables

Montauk Renewables Holdings, Inc is a renewable energy company headquartered in Irving, Texas, specializing in the capture and conversion of landfill gas into clean energy products. The company’s core operations focus on the design, development and operation of landfill gas collection systems that extract methane and other biogases generated by municipal solid waste. Montauk processes this gas into renewable natural gas (RNG) suitable for pipeline injection and also generates electricity for sale to utilities and commercial consumers.

Through its subsidiaries, Montauk provides a suite of environmental and waste‐management services across the United States and Canada.

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