American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) Raised to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on AXL. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on American Axle & Manufacturing from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $7.00 target price on American Axle & Manufacturing in a report on Monday, December 8th. UBS Group upped their target price on American Axle & Manufacturing from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $6.00 to $8.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Three research 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 an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.08.

American Axle & Manufacturing Stock Performance

Shares of American Axle & Manufacturing stock opened at $6.65 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $6.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $789.36 million, a P/E ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.61. American Axle & Manufacturing has a 52 week low of $3.00 and a 52 week high of $6.82.

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) last issued 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 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%. American Axle & Manufacturing’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that American Axle & Manufacturing will post 0.57 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Axle & Manufacturing

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AXL. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 267.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,383 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 3,191 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in American Axle & Manufacturing by 825.6% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,979 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 6,225 shares during the period. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in American Axle & Manufacturing in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in the second quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing during the 3rd quarter worth about $50,000. Hedge funds and other 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.