Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) Shares Gap Down - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Quanex shares gapped down at the open, trading at $18.60 versus the prior close of $19.92 (last trade around $19.31) on a volume of about 18,800 shares.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a $28 consensus target; analyst coverage splits as 1 Buy, 1 Hold and 1 Sell, with Benchmark trimming its target to $28 but keeping a Buy.
• The company beat quarterly expectations (EPS -$0.01 vs. -$0.05; revenue $409.1M vs. $405.8M), but shows a negative net margin (-13%) despite positive ROE (12.24%), and pays a $0.08 quarterly dividend (≈1.6% yield).

Quanex Building Products Corporation (NYSE:NX - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $19.92, but opened at $18.60. Quanex Building Products shares last traded at $19.3110, with a volume of 18,837 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on NX. Zacks Research raised shares of Quanex Building Products from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. 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 research report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Quanex Building Products in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Quanex Building Products from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Quanex Building Products Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.31. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $19.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.51. The company has a market capitalization of $895.18 million, a P/E ratio of -3.71, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Quanex Building Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. Quanex Building Products's dividend payout ratio is presently -6.08%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quanex Building Products

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Quanex Building Products by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,517 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Quanex Building Products by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 18,240 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Quanex Building Products by 199.9% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,123 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,415 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its stake in Quanex Building Products by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 47,375 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $729,000 after buying an additional 1,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Quanex Building Products in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. 97.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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