ChampionX Co. (NASDAQ:CHX) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

ChampionX Co. (NASDAQ:CHX) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,810,000 shares, a drop of 10.4% from the March 15th total of 8,720,000 shares. Approximately 4.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days.

ChampionX Stock Down 0.8 %

CHX stock traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,637,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,007,428. ChampionX has a 52 week low of $24.98 and a 52 week high of $39.95. The company has a market capitalization of $7.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 2.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.07.

ChampionX (NASDAQ:CHX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $943.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $947.33 million. ChampionX had a net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 20.14%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that ChampionX will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ChampionX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.095 per share. This represents a $0.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This is an increase from ChampionX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. ChampionX’s payout ratio is 24.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider William Jr. O’dell sold 27,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total value of $978,408.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,078,928. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of ChampionX

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CHX. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in ChampionX by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 24,501,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,791,000 after acquiring an additional 126,529 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ChampionX by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,033,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $585,167,000 after buying an additional 62,967 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of ChampionX by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,184,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,046,000 after buying an additional 988,872 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in ChampionX by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,422,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,357,000 after buying an additional 426,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in ChampionX by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,238,000 after acquiring an additional 1,193,122 shares during the period. 98.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CHX. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on ChampionX from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays upped their price target on ChampionX from $39.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of ChampionX from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.33.

ChampionX Company Profile

ChampionX Corporation provides chemistry solutions, artificial lift systems, and engineered equipment and technologies to oil and gas companies worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Production Chemical Technologies, Production & Automation Technologies, Drilling Technologies, and Reservoir Chemical Technologies.