Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL)

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 3,000 put options on the company. This is an increase of 106% compared to the typical volume of 1,453 put options.

Institutional Trading of American Axle & Manufacturing

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in American Axle & Manufacturing by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 303,883 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,772,000 after acquiring an additional 3,161 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in American Axle & Manufacturing by 4.3% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 102,936 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 4,260 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its position in American Axle & Manufacturing by 23.8% during the first quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 26,603 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 5,110 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,742 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 5,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 65,065 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 6,584 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from $6.00 to $3.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Axle & Manufacturing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.93.

American Axle & Manufacturing Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of AXL opened at $4.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.38, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.82. American Axle & Manufacturing has a 1-year low of $3.00 and a 1-year high of $7.65. The stock has a market cap of $498.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.74 and a beta of 1.58.

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The auto parts company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.03. American Axle & Manufacturing had a net margin of 0.36% and a return on equity of 8.70%. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that American Axle & Manufacturing will post 0.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About American Axle & Manufacturing

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc engages in the manufacture, engineering, design, and validation of driveline systems and related components. It operates through the Driveline and Metal Forming segments. The Driveline segment consists of axles, drive shafts, power transfer units, rear drive modules, and electric and hybrid driveline products and systems for light trucks, service utility vehicles, crossover vehicles, passenger cars, and commercial vehicles.