Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Position in Quanex Building Products Co. (NYSE:NX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Quanex Building Products Co. (NYSE:NX) by 4.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 180,101 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,172 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Quanex Building Products were worth $6,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NX. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Quanex Building Products by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 791,876 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $24,208,000 after purchasing an additional 251,892 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Quanex Building Products by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 462,937 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $13,041,000 after buying an additional 74,297 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Quanex Building Products by 493.5% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 71,482 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,185,000 after buying an additional 59,438 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Quanex Building Products by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,714,516 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $113,553,000 after buying an additional 30,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in Quanex Building Products by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 229,978 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $7,030,000 after buying an additional 29,662 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.48% of the company’s stock.

Quanex Building Products Stock Performance

NYSE:NX traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $26.74. 39,636 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 181,660. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.85. Quanex Building Products Co. has a 52 week low of $24.97 and a 52 week high of $39.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $885.36 million, a P/E ratio of 11.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.29.

Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 7th. The construction company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $266.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $268.80 million. Quanex Building Products had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 7.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Quanex Building Products Co. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quanex Building Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Quanex Building Products’s payout ratio is 13.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 target price on shares of Quanex Building Products in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Quanex Building Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday.

Quanex Building Products Profile

Quanex Building Products Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides components for the fenestration industry in the United States, rest of Europe, Canada, Asia, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North American Fenestration, European Fenestration, and North American Cabinet Components.