Short Interest in ChampionX Co. (NASDAQ:CHX) Decreases By 9.4%

ChampionX Co. (NASDAQ:CHX) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,480,000 shares, a decline of 9.4% from the October 15th total of 7,150,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,600,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days. Approximately 3.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at ChampionX

In other news, insider Deric D. Bryant sold 49,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.06, for a total transaction of $1,482,048.18. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 337,409 shares in the company, valued at $10,142,514.54. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ChampionX

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in ChampionX by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,422,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,776,000 after buying an additional 122,622 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ChampionX by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,617,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,239,000 after acquiring an additional 63,119 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of ChampionX by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,842,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,905,000 after acquiring an additional 99,100 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ChampionX by 12,607.0% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,120,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,643,000 after acquiring an additional 3,096,287 shares during the period. Finally, Westchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ChampionX by 67.8% during the 3rd quarter. Westchester Capital Management LLC now owns 2,828,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,142,628 shares during the period. 98.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ChampionX Price Performance

NASDAQ CHX traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $30.87. The company had a trading volume of 895,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,854,207. The company has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.17 and a beta of 2.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $30.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.63. ChampionX has a twelve month low of $25.46 and a twelve month high of $39.95.

ChampionX (NASDAQ:CHX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). ChampionX had a net margin of 8.59% and a return on equity of 19.74%. The business had revenue of $906.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $916.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that ChampionX will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ChampionX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.095 dividend. This represents a $0.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. ChampionX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of ChampionX from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday.

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.