Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Quanex Building Products Corporation (NYSE:NX)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $22.98 and last traded at $22.5350, with a volume of 71950 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.14.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Quanex Building Products from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Quanex Building Products in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Benchmark decreased their target price on Quanex Building Products from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Quanex Building Products from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Quanex Building Products has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $28.00.

Quanex Building Products Trading Up 1.9%

The firm has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.11, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $18.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The construction company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.33. Quanex Building Products had a positive return on equity of 12.46% and a negative net margin of 13.65%.The firm had revenue of $489.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $472.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Quanex Building Products Corporation will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Quanex Building Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Quanex Building Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently -5.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quanex Building Products news, insider Teleios Capital Partners Gmbh sold 119,485 shares of Quanex Building Products stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.94, for a total transaction of $1,904,590.90. Following the sale, the insider owned 4,421,879 shares in the company, valued at $70,484,751.26. The trade was a 2.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.92% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Quanex Building Products

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NX. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Quanex Building Products by 7.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,275,870 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $43,013,000 after acquiring an additional 166,518 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its holdings in Quanex Building Products by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,874,353 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,828,000 after purchasing an additional 139,036 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP grew its stake in shares of Quanex Building Products by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,773,756 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,280,000 after purchasing an additional 165,424 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Quanex Building Products by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,099,557 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $16,914,000 after buying an additional 4,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Quanex Building Products by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 889,279 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $13,677,000 after buying an additional 115,220 shares in the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Quanex Building Products

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.