Short Interest in American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) Expands By 22.9%

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,560,000 shares, an increase of 22.9% from the January 31st total of 7,780,000 shares. Approximately 8.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,000,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.8 days.

Institutional Trading of American Axle & Manufacturing

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Atom Investors LP lifted its holdings in American Axle & Manufacturing by 1.0% in the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 203,152 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,255,000 after acquiring an additional 2,087 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 303,883 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,772,000 after purchasing an additional 3,161 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 81.3% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,160 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 3,211 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 17,365 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 3,861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in American Axle & Manufacturing by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 303,709 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,877,000 after purchasing an additional 3,968 shares during the period. 91.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Axle & Manufacturing Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of AXL stock traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $4.68. 4,215,707 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,712,519. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.58, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.63. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.98. The company has a market capitalization of $549.69 million, a P/E ratio of 16.70 and a beta of 1.94. American Axle & Manufacturing has a fifty-two week low of $4.45 and a fifty-two week high of $7.98.

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The auto parts company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.39 billion. American Axle & Manufacturing had a net margin of 0.57% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.09) EPS. Research analysts predict that American Axle & Manufacturing will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AXL. UBS Group reduced their price objective on American Axle & Manufacturing from $6.50 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays reduced their price target on American Axle & Manufacturing from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Axle & Manufacturing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.93.

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.