AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

AdvanSix Inc. (NYSE:ASIX)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $21.30, but opened at $23.18. AdvanSix shares last traded at $23.39, with a volume of 60,312 shares.

The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.40. The company had revenue of $329.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.15 million. AdvanSix had a return on equity of 6.26% and a net margin of 2.91%.

AdvanSix Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. AdvanSix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ASIX shares. Piper Sandler cut AdvanSix from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $26.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AdvanSix from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, UBS Group set a $35.00 price objective on shares of AdvanSix in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th.

Insider Activity

In other AdvanSix news, SVP Achilles B. Kintiroglou sold 4,000 shares of AdvanSix stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.24, for a total transaction of $88,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $808,713.12. The trade was a 9.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Erin N. Kane sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.19, for a total value of $150,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 502,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,179,381.05. The trade was a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AdvanSix

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ASIX. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in AdvanSix by 149.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,966 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in AdvanSix during the fourth quarter worth approximately $94,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in AdvanSix in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $137,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in AdvanSix in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $156,000. Finally, BOKF NA bought a new position in shares of AdvanSix during the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. 86.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AdvanSix Trading Up 6.4 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $22.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.46. The company has a market cap of $607.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

AdvanSix Company Profile

AdvanSix Inc engages in the manufacture and sale of polymer resins in the United States and internationally. It offers Nylon 6, a polymer resin, which is a synthetic material used to produce fibers, filaments, engineered plastics, and films. The company also provides caprolactam to manufacture polymer resins; ammonium sulfate fertilizers to distributors, farm cooperatives, and retailers; and acetone that are used in the production of adhesives, paints, coatings, solvents, herbicides, and engineered plastic resins, as well as other intermediate chemicals, including phenol, monoisopropylamine, dipropylamine, monoallylamine, alpha-methylstyrene, cyclohexanone, methyl ethyl ketoxime, acetaldehyde oxime, 2-pentanone oxime, cyclohexanol, sulfuric acid, ammonia, and carbon dioxide.