American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,620,000 shares, a drop of 10.2% from the September 15th total of 4,030,000 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,510,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

American Axle & Manufacturing Stock Performance

NYSE:AXL traded up $0.06 during trading on Thursday, reaching $6.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 596,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,549,999. American Axle & Manufacturing has a 12 month low of $5.43 and a 12 month high of $8.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $6.16 and a 200-day moving average of $6.87. The firm has a market cap of $733.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -88.29 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.68.

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 9th. The auto parts company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.08. American Axle & Manufacturing had a net margin of 0.04% and a return on equity of 3.47%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. American Axle & Manufacturing’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that American Axle & Manufacturing will post 0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AXL. Wolfe Research upgraded American Axle & Manufacturing to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on American Axle & Manufacturing from $7.00 to $7.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.10.

Institutional Trading of American Axle & Manufacturing

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AXL. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in American Axle & Manufacturing by 159.2% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 7,899 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 4,851 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in American Axle & Manufacturing during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $75,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in the first quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, Creative Planning purchased a new position in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in the 3rd quarter worth $80,000. 91.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About American Axle & Manufacturing

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, engineers, and manufactures driveline and metal forming technologies that supports electric, hybrid, and internal combustion vehicles. It operates through two segments, Driveline and Metal Forming segments. The Driveline segment offers front and rear axles, driveshafts, differential assemblies, clutch modules, balance shaft systems, disconnecting driveline technology, and electric and hybrid driveline products and systems for light trucks, sport utility vehicles, crossover vehicles, passenger cars, and commercial vehicles.