By Grant Hamersma 

January 7, 2018 - Warrior Met Coal LLC (NYSE:HCC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 7,854,318 shares, a growth of 65.7% from the November 30th total of 4,738,888 shares. Currently, 19.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,387,639 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days.

In other Warrior Met Coal news, Director Stephen D. Williams sold 18,742 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total transaction of $524,776.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $560,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Franklin Mutual Advisers Llc sold 4,237 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.46, for a total transaction of $86,689.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Contrarius Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Warrior Met Coal during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,991,000. FMR LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Warrior Met Coal during the 2nd quarter worth about $12,380,000. Dupont Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Warrior Met Coal during the 3rd quarter worth about $901,000. Teachers Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Warrior Met Coal during the 2nd quarter worth about $509,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Warrior Met Coal during the 2nd quarter worth about $343,000. 96.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. B. Riley restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Warrior Met Coal in a research report on Wednesday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Warrior Met Coal from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 26th. FBR & Co boosted their price objective on shares of Warrior Met Coal from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 25th. MKM Partners reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Warrior Met Coal in a research report on Tuesday, September 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Warrior Met Coal and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Warrior Met Coal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.75.

Warrior Met Coal (HCC) opened at $26.96 on Friday. Warrior Met Coal has a one year low of $15.10 and a one year high of $30.49.

Warrior Met Coal (NYSE:HCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 9th. The company reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.01. Warrior Met Coal had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 51.58%. The company had revenue of $312.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $301.89 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 489.8% on a year-over-year basis. equities analysts expect that Warrior Met Coal will post 7.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warrior Met Coal, Inc, formerly Warrior Met Coal, LLC, is a producer and exporter of metallurgical coal for the steel industry from underground mines located in Brookwood, Alabama, southwest of Birmingham and near Tuscaloosa. These underground coalmines are 1,400 to 2,100 feet underground. Its operations serve markets in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America via barge and rail access to the Port of Mobile.