American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $7.92 and last traded at $7.8050, with a volume of 1183206 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.73.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a report on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $7.00 target price on American Axle & Manufacturing in a research note on Monday, December 8th. UBS Group upped their price target 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, Wall Street Zen upgraded American Axle & Manufacturing from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.08.

American Axle & Manufacturing Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $920.52 million, a P/E ratio of 23.50 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $6.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.83.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of American Axle & Manufacturing

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in American Axle & Manufacturing by 98.9% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 60,425 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 30,046 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in American Axle & Manufacturing by 2.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 452,658 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 12,477 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 77.9% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,550,521 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $6,311,000 after purchasing an additional 679,042 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in American Axle & Manufacturing by 24.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,490,388 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $6,066,000 after acquiring an additional 291,908 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in American Axle & Manufacturing by 3.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 567,790 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,311,000 after purchasing an additional 16,674 shares in the last quarter. 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.