FutureFuel Corp. (NYSE:FF) Short Interest Up 8.2% in December

FutureFuel Corp. (NYSE:FF) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 603,800 shares, an increase of 8.2% from the November 30th total of 558,200 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 292,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FutureFuel news, CEO Roeland Polet purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $5.11 per share, with a total value of $51,100.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,100. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 41.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FutureFuel

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in FutureFuel during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of FutureFuel by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,423 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,475,000 after purchasing an additional 5,947 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of FutureFuel by 57.7% during the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 18,518 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 6,779 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of FutureFuel in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of FutureFuel in the third quarter valued at about $58,000. Institutional investors own 44.56% of the company’s stock.

FutureFuel Price Performance

Shares of FF traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $5.29. The company had a trading volume of 149,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 427,426. The company’s 50-day moving average is $5.42 and its 200-day moving average is $5.52. The company has a market capitalization of $231.51 million, a P/E ratio of 6.45 and a beta of 0.58. FutureFuel has a twelve month low of $4.15 and a twelve month high of $8.36.

FutureFuel Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.54%. FutureFuel’s payout ratio is presently 29.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of FutureFuel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th.

About FutureFuel

FutureFuel Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells diversified chemical, bio-based fuel, and bio-based specialty chemical products in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Chemicals and Biofuels. The Chemicals segment provides various custom chemicals that are used in the coatings, chemical intermediates, industrial and consumer cleaning, oil and gas, and specialty polymers industries; and performance chemicals, such as polymer modifiers, glycerin products, and various specialty chemicals and solvents.