Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Trims Position in AdvanSix $ASIX

Key Points

• Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund cut its AdvanSix stake by 49.1% in the first quarter, selling 53,839 shares and retaining 55,872 shares worth approximately $1.36 million. Institutional investors collectively own 86.39% of ASIX.
• Analyst sentiment is cautious: AdvanSix received two Hold ratings and one Sell rating, resulting in a consensus “Reduce” rating and a $22.50 average price target.
• AdvanSix reported a first-quarter loss of $0.50 per share, slightly below expectations, despite revenue of $404.18 million exceeding forecasts. The company maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share, implying a 3.2% yield.

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lessened its holdings in shares of AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX - Free Report) by 49.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,872 shares of the company's stock after selling 53,839 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned approximately 0.21% of AdvanSix worth $1,363,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in AdvanSix in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in AdvanSix by 60.2% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,285 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in AdvanSix by 90.0% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,358 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AdvanSix by 27,537.5% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,211 shares of the company's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,203 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of AdvanSix by 144.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,385 shares of the company's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,408 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.39% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ASIX shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of AdvanSix from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AdvanSix from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Zacks Research raised AdvanSix to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $22.50.

AdvanSix Price Performance

ASIX opened at $20.10 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $541.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.33 and a beta of 1.30. AdvanSix has a 12-month low of $14.10 and a 12-month high of $26.73.

AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by ($0.02). AdvanSix had a net margin of 0.67% and a return on equity of 2.18%. The firm had revenue of $404.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $364.90 million. Research analysts predict that AdvanSix will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AdvanSix Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. AdvanSix's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 172.97%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ASIX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.