Short sellers ramp up bets on Brazilian water utility. The stock climbed 19% over the past month even as borrowing costs rose.
Short interest in SBS hit 3.96 million shares as of April 23, up 17.4% over the past week. The one-day jump was 8.6%, the sharpest increase in recent weeks. Days to cover stands at 2.26 based on the most recent FINRA report. Cost to borrow rose 16.3% over the week to 0.65%. Utilization climbed to 45.4%, near the 52-week high of 47.2% set earlier this month. The data signals growing conviction among bears despite the stock's recent rally.
The put-call ratio registered 0.086 on April 24, sitting 0.23 standard deviations above the 20-day mean of 0.067. The reading remains well below the 52-week high of 0.81. Options activity has been muted, with PCR spending most of the past month near zero before ticking higher in mid-April. The current level suggests a modest tilt toward protective positioning ahead of the print.
Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating and $36.60 price target on March 19. That target implies 5.5% upside from the current $34.70 close. The most recent mean target of $11.17 in the system dates to November 2020 and is badly stale. Goldman Sachs initiated with Neutral in 2019. No other recent firm activity is on record. Analyst coverage appears thin.
The stock trades at 15.6x trailing earnings, up 1.7 turns over the past month. Price-to-book sits at 1.63. EV/EBITDA declined to 8.4x, down 0.29 turns in 30 days. The company ranks in the 87th percentile on EPS surprise and the 94th percentile on dividend score. Short score ranks in the 97th percentile. Days to cover ranks 98th. No momentum, quality, or value ML scores are available.
No insider trades are recorded over the past 90 days. Wellington Management increased its stake by 25.6 million shares to 37.7 million, a 5.4% position. BlackRock added 1.8 million shares to hold 6.0%. Northern Trust lifted its stake by 485,000 shares. The Government of the State of São Paulo remains the largest holder at 18.1%. Equatorial S.A. holds 15.1%.
The company reported on April 9, March 26, and March 17 over the past month. Earnings history shows frequent prints. The stock gained 2.5% over the past week and 19.4% over the month. Price momentum has been strong heading into this event.
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