Putnam Investments LLC Purchases 202,852 Shares of GrafTech International Ltd. (NYSE:EAF)

Putnam Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of GrafTech International Ltd. (NYSE:EAF – Get Rating) by 412.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 252,046 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 202,852 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC’s holdings in GrafTech International were worth $1,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in GrafTech International by 540.8% during the 3rd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,937,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,352,000 after acquiring an additional 1,635,500 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of GrafTech International by 22.8% during the third quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 590,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after buying an additional 109,500 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in shares of GrafTech International by 13.1% during the second quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 8,310,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,754,000 after buying an additional 963,498 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of GrafTech International by 110.3% during the second quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 208,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after buying an additional 109,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of GrafTech International by 19.0% during the third quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 319,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,375,000 after buying an additional 50,907 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EAF. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of GrafTech International from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of GrafTech International from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 21st.

GrafTech International Trading Down 4.2 %

Shares of EAF opened at $5.07 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $5.64 and its 200 day moving average is $5.21. GrafTech International Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $4.07 and a fifty-two week high of $10.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 3.43.

GrafTech International (NYSE:EAF – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.05). GrafTech International had a return on equity of 161.67% and a net margin of 29.89%. The business had revenue of $247.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $221.00 million. The business’s revenue was down 31.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

GrafTech International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 28th will be given a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 27th. GrafTech International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.72%.

GrafTech International Company Profile

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GrafTech International Ltd. engages in the manufacture of graphite electrode products essential to the production of electric arc furnace steel and other ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The firm also produces needle coke products which is a raw material to producing graphite electrodes. Its customers include steel producers and other ferrous and non-ferrous metal producers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Americas and Asia-Pacific, which sell its products into the automotive, construction, appliance, machinery, equipment and transportation industries.