Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) Trading Up 10.4% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Quanex Building Products Corporation (NYSE:NX) were up 10.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $18.27 and last traded at $18.2870. Approximately 16,601 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 97% from the average daily volume of 497,166 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Quanex Building Products in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Quanex Building Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Quanex Building Products from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Quanex Building Products currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $28.00.

Quanex Building Products Trading Up 0.8%

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $823.07 million, a PE ratio of -3.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $462.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $459.27 million. Quanex Building Products had a negative net margin of 13.85% and a positive return on equity of 11.11%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Quanex Building Products Corporation will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quanex Building Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Quanex Building Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -5.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Quanex Building Products by 22.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 25,578 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 4,720 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Quanex Building Products by 9.1% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 28,051 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $521,000 after buying an additional 2,347 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Quanex Building Products by 25.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 246,666 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,586,000 after acquiring an additional 49,895 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in Quanex Building Products by 887.4% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 84,957 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,579,000 after acquiring an additional 76,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Quanex Building Products by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 72,103 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after acquiring an additional 5,313 shares in the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Quanex Building Products Company Profile

Quanex Building Products Corporation engages in the design, manufacture and distribution of components for the window, door and building products industries in North America. The company operates through two primary segments: Window Products and Door & Building Products. Its Window Products segment supplies vinyl window profiles and related accessories, while its Door & Building Products segment offers engineered door skins, panels, siding products, specialty moldings and other exterior building components.

Within its Window Products segment, Quanex produces extrusion profiles used by window fabricators to assemble vinyl casement, double-hung, slider and picture windows.