Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Quanex Building Products from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Quanex Building Products from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Quanex Building Products in a report on Thursday, August 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Quanex Building Products Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NX opened at $20.76 on Friday. Quanex Building Products has a fifty-two week low of $11.04 and a fifty-two week high of $23.33. The company has a market cap of $951.43 million, a PE ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.09.

Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The construction company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $501.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $497.51 million. Quanex Building Products had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 11.61%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($6.04) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Quanex Building Products will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quanex Building Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Quanex Building Products’s dividend payout ratio is 32.32%.

Institutional Trading of Quanex Building Products

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NX. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Quanex Building Products during the second quarter worth $136,089,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Quanex Building Products by 36.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,741,613 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $31,296,000 after buying an additional 462,992 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Quanex Building Products in the 1st quarter worth $17,970,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Quanex Building Products by 1.2% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 770,756 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $13,850,000 after acquiring an additional 8,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Quanex Building Products by 961.7% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 592,785 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $10,652,000 after acquiring an additional 536,949 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

Quanex Building Products Company Profile

Quanex Building Products Corporation (NYSE: NX) is a manufacturer of components and systems used in the production of energy-efficient windows, doors, cabinets and other building products. The company primarily serves original equipment manufacturers and fabricators rather than selling finished construction products directly to consumers.

Its product portfolio includes insulating glass components, spacer systems, window and door profiles, screens, fenestration hardware, weather-sealing products, cabinet doors and drawer fronts.