ChampionX Co. (NASDAQ:CHX) Short Interest Down 10.4% in March

ChampionX Co. (NASDAQ:CHX) was the recipient of a significant 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. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Currently, 4.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider William Jr. O’dell sold 27,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $978,408.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,078,928. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.38% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ChampionX

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in shares of ChampionX by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 74,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,813,000 after purchasing an additional 7,061 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 126,529 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its stake in shares of ChampionX by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 110,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,768,000 after purchasing an additional 8,223 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ChampionX by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 109,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,673,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of ChampionX by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 694,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,014,000 after purchasing an additional 104,849 shares in the last quarter. 98.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ChampionX Trading Down 0.8 %

CHX stock opened at $36.64 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. ChampionX has a 52 week low of $24.98 and a 52 week high of $39.95. The company has a market cap of $7.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 2.44.

ChampionX (NASDAQ:CHX) last announced its quarterly 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. ChampionX had a net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 20.14%. The firm had revenue of $943.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $947.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that ChampionX will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

ChampionX Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CHX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on ChampionX from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on ChampionX from $39.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on ChampionX from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ChampionX 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.