Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT)

ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 4,076 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 123% compared to the average volume of 1,824 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ArcelorMittal

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MT. MML Investors Services LLC bought a new stake in ArcelorMittal during the third quarter worth approximately $308,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of ArcelorMittal in the 3rd quarter worth $376,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of ArcelorMittal by 210.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 114,324 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,002,000 after buying an additional 77,519 shares in the last quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ArcelorMittal by 8.2% in the third quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 102,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,686,000 after buying an additional 7,753 shares during the period. Finally, Flow Traders U.S. LLC bought a new position in ArcelorMittal during the third quarter valued at about $369,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upgraded shares of ArcelorMittal from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America upgraded ArcelorMittal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $32.90 in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded ArcelorMittal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered ArcelorMittal from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.17.

ArcelorMittal Price Performance

NYSE MT opened at $24.71 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $24.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.95. The stock has a market cap of $19.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. ArcelorMittal has a 52 week low of $20.52 and a 52 week high of $29.01.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.05. ArcelorMittal had a positive return on equity of 5.26% and a negative net margin of 1.99%. The business had revenue of $15.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that ArcelorMittal will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

About ArcelorMittal

ArcelorMittal SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated steel and mining companies in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It offers semi-finished flat products, including slabs; finished flat products comprising plates, hot- and cold-rolled coils and sheets, hot-dipped and electro-galvanized coils and sheets, tinplate, and color coated coils and sheets; semi-finished long products, such as blooms and billets; finished long products consisting of bars, wire-rods, structural sections, rails, sheet piles, and wire-products; and seamless and welded pipes and tubes.