American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on AXL. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on American Axle & Manufacturing from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Axle & Manufacturing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.25.

American Axle & Manufacturing Price Performance

Shares of American Axle & Manufacturing stock opened at $5.74 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $4.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.86. American Axle & Manufacturing has a 12 month low of $3.00 and a 12 month high of $7.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $681.11 million, a PE ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.59.

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The auto parts company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. American Axle & Manufacturing had a return on equity of 8.90% and a net margin of 0.73%. American Axle & Manufacturing’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Axle & Manufacturing will post 0.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of American Axle & Manufacturing

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AXL. Whitebox Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Axle & Manufacturing by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Whitebox Advisors LLC now owns 1,892,723 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $11,035,000 after purchasing an additional 477,550 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 546.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 786,569 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $4,586,000 after buying an additional 664,922 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 4.3% in 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 buying an additional 4,260 shares in the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in American Axle & Manufacturing during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $930,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in American Axle & Manufacturing during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Institutional investors own 91.41% of the company’s stock.

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.