American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

AXL has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley set a $7.00 target price on American Axle & Manufacturing in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on American Axle & Manufacturing from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.08.

American Axle & Manufacturing Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of AXL stock opened at $6.49 on Friday. American Axle & Manufacturing has a fifty-two week low of $3.00 and a fifty-two week high of $6.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $6.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $769.77 million, a P/E ratio of 19.65 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.77.

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The auto parts company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. American Axle & Manufacturing had a net margin of 0.72% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that American Axle & Manufacturing will post 0.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Axle & Manufacturing

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in American Axle & Manufacturing by 98.9% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 60,425 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 30,046 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in the 1st quarter valued at $87,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in American Axle & Manufacturing by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 452,658 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 12,477 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its stake in American Axle & Manufacturing by 23.8% during the 1st quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 26,603 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 5,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in American Axle & Manufacturing by 77.9% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,550,521 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $6,311,000 after acquiring an additional 679,042 shares during the last quarter. 91.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Axle & Manufacturing Company Profile

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc (NYSE: AXL) is a global designer, engineer and manufacturer of driveline and drivetrain systems and components for light vehicles, commercial trucks and off-highway applications. The company’s core product portfolio includes axles, driveshafts, half-shafts, drive module assemblies and differential gears, as well as advanced metallic and composite structures for electric and hybrid vehicles. AAM’s capabilities also encompass system testing, rapid prototyping and precision machining to support both high-volume production and low-volume, specialty vehicle applications.

Founded in 1994 following the divestiture of the Detroit Axle Division of General Motors, American Axle & Manufacturing completed its initial public offering in 1998.