Short Interest in Northwest Pipe (NASDAQ:NWPX) Declines By 34.9%

Northwest Pipe (NASDAQ:NWPX - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 70,000 shares, a decline of 34.9% from the March 15th total of 107,600 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 47,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NWPX. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Pipe by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,055,320 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $31,913,000 after acquiring an additional 116,273 shares during the period. Gendell Jeffrey L lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Pipe by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L now owns 131,767 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,975,000 after acquiring an additional 53,118 shares during the period. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Pipe by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC now owns 317,067 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $9,594,000 after acquiring an additional 44,756 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Pipe by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 219,735 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,862,000 after acquiring an additional 41,032 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Pipe by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 414,624 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $12,509,000 after acquiring an additional 35,997 shares during the period. 80.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on NWPX shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Northwest Pipe from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Northwest Pipe from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Northwest Pipe from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st.

Northwest Pipe Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:NWPX traded down $0.76 on Friday, reaching $32.88. The stock had a trading volume of 32,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 46,475. The company has a market cap of $325.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 1.88. The firm's fifty day moving average is $32.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.74. Northwest Pipe has a 12-month low of $25.58 and a 12-month high of $35.32.

Northwest Pipe (NASDAQ:NWPX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $110.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $105.03 million. Northwest Pipe had a net margin of 4.74% and a return on equity of 6.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Northwest Pipe will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Northwest Pipe

Northwest Pipe Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and supply of water-related infrastructure products in North America. It operates in two segments, Engineered Steel Pressure Pipe (SPP) and Precast Infrastructure and Engineered Systems (Precast). The SPP segment offers large-diameter and high-pressure steel pipeline systems for use in water infrastructure applications, which are primarily related to drinking water systems.

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