American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at BWS Financial

BWS Financial assumed coverage on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $17.00 target price on the auto parts company’s stock.

AXL has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on American Axle & Manufacturing from $8.50 to $10.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $7.00 price objective on American Axle & Manufacturing in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.92.

American Axle & Manufacturing Stock Up 0.8%

AXL opened at $8.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $962.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.56 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. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.14. American Axle & Manufacturing has a twelve month low of $3.00 and a twelve month high of $8.63.

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The auto parts company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. American Axle & Manufacturing had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 0.72%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in American Axle & Manufacturing by 760.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,503,827 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $21,058,000 after acquiring an additional 3,096,778 shares in the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC increased its position in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 72.7% in the third quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC now owns 4,909,688 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $29,507,000 after purchasing an additional 2,066,924 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in American Axle & Manufacturing in the third quarter valued at about $11,470,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in American Axle & Manufacturing by 615.8% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,879,668 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $7,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,617,069 shares during the period. Finally, Masters Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Axle & Manufacturing during the third quarter worth about $7,212,000. Institutional investors own 91.41% of the company’s stock.

About American Axle & Manufacturing

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.