Donald Smith & CO. Inc. Buys Shares of 212,680 AdvanSix $ASIX

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 212,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,228,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AdvanSix during the second quarter worth $48,517,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AdvanSix by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,990,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,566,000 after buying an additional 10,642 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in AdvanSix by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,311,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,988,000 after buying an additional 8,131 shares in the last quarter. Aegis Financial Corp purchased a new stake in AdvanSix in the 4th quarter valued at about $20,927,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in AdvanSix by 55.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 948,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,382,000 after buying an additional 337,908 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.39% of the company’s stock.

AdvanSix Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ASIX opened at $17.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $465.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.12 and a beta of 1.29. AdvanSix has a 52 week low of $14.10 and a 52 week high of $26.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.60 and a 200 day moving average of $20.80.

AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.37). The company had revenue of $421.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $452.00 million. AdvanSix had a negative net margin of 1.14% and a negative return on equity of 1.28%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AdvanSix will post -0.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AdvanSix Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. AdvanSix’s payout ratio is currently -96.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of AdvanSix to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on AdvanSix from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded AdvanSix from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of AdvanSix in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AdvanSix presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $21.50.

About AdvanSix

AdvanSix, Inc (NYSE: ASIX) is an integrated chemical manufacturer specializing in the production of nylon 6 intermediates and related co‐products. Established as a publicly traded spin‐off from Honeywell Specialty Chemicals in June 2016, the company is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.

The company’s principal product is caprolactam, the key building block for nylon 6 resin, used in fibers and engineering plastics across industries. In addition to caprolactam and nylon 6 resin, AdvanSix produces ammonium sulfate fertilizer and industrial chemicals such as phenol and acetone.