Volkswagen AG Unsponsored ADR (OTCMKTS:VWAGY) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest surged 81.1% in March to 636,192 shares for VWAGY, with a days-to-cover ratio of about 1.2, signaling a sharp rise in bets against the stock but a relatively brief time frame to cover positions.
• Analyst consensus is a “Moderate Buy” (one Strong Buy, one Buy, four Hold); HSBC and Citigroup reiterated Buy ratings while Zacks moved the stock to Hold.
• Volkswagen recently beat quarterly estimates (EPS $0.73 vs. $0.59; revenue $99.97B vs. $84.92B) and trades at a P/E of 7.16 with a market cap of about $53.5 billion.

Volkswagen AG Unsponsored ADR (OTCMKTS:VWAGY - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 636,192 shares, an increase of 81.1% from the March 15th total of 351,249 shares. Currently, 0.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 514,492 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VWAGY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Volkswagen from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. HSBC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Volkswagen in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Volkswagen in a research note on Friday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Volkswagen presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Volkswagen Stock Performance

Shares of VWAGY stock opened at $10.67 on Monday. Volkswagen has a 52-week low of $9.82 and a 52-week high of $12.83. The stock has a market cap of $53.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $11.11 and a 200-day moving average of $11.40.

Volkswagen (OTCMKTS:VWAGY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 10th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.14. Volkswagen had a net margin of 2.11% and a return on equity of 3.43%. The company had revenue of $99.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $84.92 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Volkswagen will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Volkswagen Company Profile

Volkswagen AG is one of the world's largest integrated automakers, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Founded in 1937 to produce a mass-market "people's car," the company expanded through the post-war period into a global automotive group. Volkswagen's operations encompass the design, engineering, manufacture and distribution of a broad range of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, and the company's consolidated brand portfolio includes Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, Porsche, Škoda, SEAT, Bentley, Lamborghini and other marques operated across its group structure.

In addition to vehicle production, Volkswagen provides a range of automotive-related products and services, including powertrain technologies, component manufacturing, mobility services and vehicle financing and leasing through its Volkswagen Financial Services unit.

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