Arkema (OTCMKTS:ARKAY) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

Arkema SA (OTCMKTS:ARKAY) saw strong trading volume on Friday. Approximately 3,960 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 43% from the previous session’s volume of 2,763 shares. The stock last traded at $63.14 and had previously closed at $63.40.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Arkema from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Arkema in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Arkema Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 217.72 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.74.

Arkema (OTCMKTS:ARKAY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.86 billion. Arkema had a net margin of 0.67% and a return on equity of 4.30%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Arkema SA will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

About Arkema

Arkema is a France-based specialty materials company that develops and manufactures materials used in a broad range of industrial and consumer applications. Its portfolio includes high-performance polymers, adhesives, coating materials, additives and specialty chemical intermediates.

The company’s businesses serve markets such as construction, automotive, electronics, renewable energy, consumer goods, packaging and healthcare. Arkema’s brands and product lines include Bostik adhesives, Kynar fluoropolymers, Rilsan polyamide materials, Pebax elastomers and Sartomer specialty resins and additives.

Arkema was established in 2004 through the reorganization of Total’s chemicals businesses and became an independent, publicly traded company in 2006.