State Auto Financial (STFC) Short Interest Ratio & Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of State Auto Financial shares that have been sold short but have not yet been closed out or covered. As of February 15th, traders have sold 441,600 shares of STFC short. 2.46% of State Auto Financial's shares are currently sold short. Learn More on State Auto Financial's current short interest.

The short interest ratio, also known as the "days to cover ratio", is calculated by dividing the number of shares of a stock sold short divided by its average trading volume. A short interest ratio ranging between 1 and 4 generally indicates strong positive sentiment about a stock and a lack of short sellers. A short interest ratio of 10 or greater indicates strong pessimism about a stock. STFC shares currently have a short interest ratio of 6.0. Learn More on State Auto Financial's short interest ratio.

Companies that have a short interest as a percentage of float below 10% indicates positive investor sentiment and few short sellers. Stocks with a short interest percentage above 10% is considered high, suggesting some investors are pessimistic about the stock. Companies with a short interest percentage of 20% or more indicates widespread negative sentiment. 2.46% of State Auto Financial's floating shares are currently sold short.

State Auto Financial saw a increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totaling 441,600 shares, an increase of 17.4% from the previous total of 376,300 shares. Changes in short volume can be used to identify positive and negative investor sentiment. Investors that short sell a stock are betting that its price will decline in the future. An increase in short sale volume suggests bearish (negative) sentiment among investors. A decrease on short sale volume suggests bullish (positive) sentiment.

State Auto Financial currently has issued a total of 44,512,000 shares. Some of State Auto Financial's outstanding shares are available for trading, while others are subject to various restrictions. The public float, also referred to as floating shares or "the float", are shares that publicly owned, unrestricted and available to trade on the open market. State Auto Financial currently has a public float of 17,960,000 shares.

2.46% of State Auto Financial's shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies in the sector of "finance" compare to State Auto Financial: Mercury General Co. (1.68%), Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (1.04%), HCI Group, Inc. (13.51%), Employers Holdings, Inc. (1.24%), AMERISAFE, Inc. (1.79%), ProAssurance Co. (1.23%), Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (1.45%), United Fire Group, Inc. (0.89%), Donegal Group Inc. (1.33%), White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. (1.49%),

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: S&P Global Inc. ($7.23 billion), Charter Communications, Inc. ($6.03 billion), Palo Alto Networks, Inc. ($3.16 billion), Lucid Group, Inc. ($2.77 billion), Snap Inc. ($2.53 billion), Datadog, Inc. ($2.53 billion), Rivian Automotive, Inc. ($2.30 billion), Wayfair Inc. ($2.30 billion), Booking Holdings Inc. ($2.18 billion), and Carnival Co. & plc ($1.96 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling STFC is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from State Auto Financial as its price is falling. To short a stock, an investor borrows shares, sells them and buys the shares back on the public market later to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that a stock will decline in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the trader's profit.

A short squeeze for State Auto Financial occurs when it has a large amount of short interest and its stock appreciates in price. This forces short sellers to cover their short interest positions by buying actual shares of STFC, which in turn drives the price of the stock up even further.

Short interest is typically published by a stock exchange once per month. However, NASDAQ publishes a report for U.S. stocks, including STFC, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is February, 15 2022.