Quanex Building Products Corporation (NYSE:NX) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 37.8% in March to 2,440,072 shares (about 5.4% of shares short) with a days-to-cover ratio of 3.5, indicating increased bearish positioning.
• Quanex slightly beat the quarter with ($0.01) EPS vs. ($0.05) expected and $409.09M revenue, and declared a $0.08 quarterly dividend (annualized $0.32, 1.8% yield; ex-dividend Mar 17, payable Mar 31).
• Shares trade near $17.41 with a market cap of roughly $800M and a negative P/E, while analysts' consensus is a "Hold" with a $28 price target and institutional ownership around 97.5%.

Quanex Building Products Corporation (NYSE:NX - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 2,440,072 shares, a growth of 37.8% from the February 26th total of 1,770,565 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 702,716 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Currently, 5.4% of the company's shares are short sold.

Quanex Building Products Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE NX traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $17.41. The company had a trading volume of 331,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 696,209. The firm's 50 day moving average is $19.39 and its 200 day moving average is $16.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Quanex Building Products has a fifty-two week low of $11.04 and a fifty-two week high of $22.98. The company has a market capitalization of $799.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.91.

Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The construction company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.04. Quanex Building Products had a positive return on equity of 12.24% and a negative net margin of 13.00%.The company had revenue of $409.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $405.75 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Quanex Building Products will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quanex Building Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. Quanex Building Products's dividend payout ratio is currently -6.08%.

Institutional Trading of Quanex Building Products

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NX. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Quanex Building Products by 22.6% during the first 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 in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Quanex Building Products by 9.1% during the 1st 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 during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Quanex Building Products by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 246,666 shares of the construction company's stock worth $4,586,000 after buying an additional 49,895 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in Quanex Building Products by 887.4% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 84,957 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,579,000 after buying an additional 76,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Quanex Building Products by 53.4% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 43,412 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $820,000 after buying an additional 15,112 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Quanex Building Products from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Zacks Research upgraded Quanex Building Products from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Quanex Building Products in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Quanex Building Products from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $28.00.

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.

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