Luxfer Holdings PLC (NYSE:LXFR) Short Interest Up 51.8% in February

Luxfer Holdings PLC (NYSE:LXFR) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 146,200 shares, an increase of 51.8% from the February 13th total of 96,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 136,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days. Approximately 0.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Luxfer Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of LXFR traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $12.12. 93,355 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 134,219. Luxfer has a fifty-two week low of $9.26 and a fifty-two week high of $15.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $13.39 and a 200-day moving average of $13.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $324.01 million, a P/E ratio of 36.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.93.

Luxfer (NYSE:LXFR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.03. Luxfer had a net margin of 2.37% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The company had revenue of $103.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.50 million. On average, research analysts expect that Luxfer will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Luxfer Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 27th. Luxfer’s payout ratio is 76.47%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Luxfer

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Luxfer by 1.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,725,821 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,299,000 after purchasing an additional 43,559 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Luxfer by 64.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 66,809 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $865,000 after purchasing an additional 26,112 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Luxfer by 75.4% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 19,135 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 8,223 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Luxfer by 129.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,727 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 15,641 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Luxfer by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 558,847 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413 shares during the period. 90.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Luxfer from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Luxfer Company Profile

Luxfer Holdings PLC, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and supplies high-performance materials, components, and high-pressure gas containment devices for defense and first response, healthcare, transportation, and general industrial applications. The company operates through three segments: Elektron, Gas Cylinders, and graphic Arts.