Short Interest in Northwest Pipe (NASDAQ:NWPX) Declines By 28.0%

Northwest Pipe (NASDAQ:NWPX) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 47,400 shares, a decline of 28.0% from the October 15th total of 65,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 30,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days. Approximately 0.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Northwest Pipe Price Performance

Shares of NWPX stock opened at $26.30 on Friday. Northwest Pipe has a 12-month low of $25.58 and a 12-month high of $40.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $263.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $29.37 and a 200-day moving average of $29.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on NWPX. TheStreet upgraded shares of Northwest Pipe from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Northwest Pipe in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northwest Pipe

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NWPX. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Northwest Pipe by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,055,320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,913,000 after purchasing an additional 116,273 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Northwest Pipe by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 763,777 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $23,853,000 after buying an additional 10,491 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Northwest Pipe by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 468,022 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,152,000 after buying an additional 1,769 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 35,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. lifted its position in Northwest Pipe by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 315,152 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,842,000 after buying an additional 1,379 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

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 engineered steel pipeline systems for use in water infrastructure applications, which are primarily related to drinking water systems.