Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

StockNews.com lowered shares of Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Sunday morning.

Separately, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of Quanex Building Products in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th.

Quanex Building Products Price Performance

Quanex Building Products stock opened at $25.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.78. Quanex Building Products has a 12 month low of $22.92 and a 12 month high of $39.31. The company has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.24.

Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The construction company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.08. Quanex Building Products had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 2.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Quanex Building Products will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Quanex Building Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Quanex Building Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quanex Building Products news, CEO George Laverne Wilson bought 4,328 shares of Quanex Building Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $23.03 per share, for a total transaction of $99,673.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 287,644 shares in the company, valued at $6,624,441.32. This represents a 1.53 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Quanex Building Products by 0.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 349,870 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $9,674,000 after acquiring an additional 3,283 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Quanex Building Products by 30.5% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,146 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 2,374 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Quanex Building Products during the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its position in Quanex Building Products by 900.0% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Quanex Building Products by 3.4% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 24,200 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $669,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

About Quanex Building Products

Quanex Building Products Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides components for the fenestration industry in the United States, rest of Europe, Canada, Asia, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North American Fenestration, European Fenestration, and North American Cabinet Components.