AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

AdvanSix Inc. (NYSE:ASIX) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $23.48, but opened at $23.99. AdvanSix shares last traded at $24.69, with a volume of 48,052 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASIX has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised AdvanSix from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler set a $32.00 target price on shares of AdvanSix in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group set a $35.00 target price on AdvanSix in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th.

AdvanSix Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $21.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.97. The company has a market cap of $654.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.16 and a beta of 1.59.

AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.40. AdvanSix had a net margin of 2.91% and a return on equity of 6.26%. The business had revenue of $329.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.15 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AdvanSix Inc. will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AdvanSix Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. AdvanSix’s payout ratio is 20.51%.

Insider Activity at AdvanSix

In other AdvanSix news, SVP Achilles B. Kintiroglou sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.24, for a total transaction of $88,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,363 shares in the company, valued at $808,713.12. This represents a 9.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of AdvanSix by 149.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,966 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in AdvanSix by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in AdvanSix by 33.2% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 4,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 1,022 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of AdvanSix during the fourth quarter worth about $137,000. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in AdvanSix in the fourth quarter worth $156,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.39% of the company’s stock.

About AdvanSix

AdvanSix Inc engages in the manufacture and sale of polymer resins in the United States and internationally. It offers Nylon 6, a polymer resin, which is a synthetic material used to produce fibers, filaments, engineered plastics, and films. The company also provides caprolactam to manufacture polymer resins; ammonium sulfate fertilizers to distributors, farm cooperatives, and retailers; and acetone that are used in the production of adhesives, paints, coatings, solvents, herbicides, and engineered plastic resins, as well as other intermediate chemicals, including phenol, monoisopropylamine, dipropylamine, monoallylamine, alpha-methylstyrene, cyclohexanone, methyl ethyl ketoxime, acetaldehyde oxime, 2-pentanone oxime, cyclohexanol, sulfuric acid, ammonia, and carbon dioxide.