Insider Buying: GrafTech International Ltd. (NYSE:EAF) Major Shareholder Acquires $572,364.40 in Stock

GrafTech International Ltd. (NYSE:EAF) major shareholder Colonial House Capital Ltd purchased 332,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $1.72 per share, with a total value of $572,364.40. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 31,358,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,935,864.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Colonial House Capital Ltd also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, May 9th, Colonial House Capital Ltd purchased 114,178 shares of GrafTech International stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of $1.77 per share, with a total value of $202,095.06.
• On Monday, May 6th, Colonial House Capital Ltd purchased 163,250 shares of GrafTech International stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of $1.81 per share, with a total value of $295,482.50.
• On Friday, May 3rd, Colonial House Capital Ltd acquired 533,009 shares of GrafTech International stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of $1.77 per share, with a total value of $943,425.93.
• On Friday, April 26th, Colonial House Capital Ltd acquired 179,279 shares of GrafTech International stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of $1.48 per share, with a total value of $265,332.92.
• On Tuesday, April 16th, Colonial House Capital Ltd acquired 2,303,599 shares of GrafTech International stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of $1.78 per share, with a total value of $4,100,406.22.

GrafTech International Stock Performance

NYSE EAF opened at $1.97 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $505.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.80 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 3.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.74. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $1.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $1.83. GrafTech International Ltd. has a twelve month low of $1.18 and a twelve month high of $5.32.

GrafTech International (NYSE:EAF) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $136.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.73 million. GrafTech International had a negative return on equity of 66.36% and a negative net margin of 45.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.02) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that GrafTech International Ltd. will post -0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GrafTech International

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EAF. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in GrafTech International by 1,425.0% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 4,422,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,686,000 after purchasing an additional 4,132,961 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in GrafTech International by 12.9% during the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 22,971,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,618,477 shares during the period. Yacktman Asset Management LP raised its position in GrafTech International by 27.6% during the fourth quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP now owns 11,922,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,110,000 after purchasing an additional 2,580,133 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in GrafTech International by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,521,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,091,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095,959 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in GrafTech International during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,954,000. 92.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on EAF. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on GrafTech International from $3.00 to $2.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on GrafTech International from $2.00 to $1.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $1.88.

GrafTech International Company Profile

GrafTech International Ltd. research, develops, manufactures, and sells graphite and carbon-based solutions worldwide. The company offers graphite electrodes to produce electric arc furnace steel and other ferrous and non-ferrous metals; and petroleum needle coke, a crystalline form of carbon used in the production of graphite electrodes and synthetic graphite.