Short Interest in Quanex Building Products Corporation (NYSE:NX) Increases By 37.8%

Quanex Building Products Corporation (NYSE:NX) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 2,440,072 shares, a growth of 37.8% from the February 26th total of 1,770,565 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 702,716 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 5.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Quanex Building Products from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Quanex Building Products in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Quanex Building Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Benchmark cut 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

Quanex Building Products Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE NX traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $17.43. 451,084 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 607,546. The stock has a market capitalization of $800.40 million, a P/E ratio of -3.31, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.31. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.24. Quanex Building Products has a twelve month low of $11.04 and a twelve month high of $22.98.

Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The construction company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $409.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $405.75 million. Quanex Building Products had a positive return on equity of 12.24% and a negative net margin of 13.00%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Quanex Building Products will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Quanex Building Products Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Quanex Building Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently -6.08%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Quanex Building Products during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Quanex Building Products by 199.9% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,123 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,415 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Quanex Building Products in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Quanex Building Products during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in Quanex Building Products by 132.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,754 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 2,136 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

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.