AdvanSix Inc. (NYSE:ASIX) Short Interest Up 12.3% in June

AdvanSix Inc. (NYSE:ASIX) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 325,200 shares, an increase of 12.3% from the May 31st total of 289,500 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 133,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Erin N. Kane sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.08, for a total value of $84,296.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 552,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,521,360.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other AdvanSix news, SVP Achilles B. Kintiroglou sold 3,661 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.23, for a total transaction of $92,367.03. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 35,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $891,502.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Erin N. Kane sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.08, for a total transaction of $84,296.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 552,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,521,360.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AdvanSix

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caxton Associates LP bought a new position in shares of AdvanSix during the third quarter valued at $250,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of AdvanSix during the third quarter valued at $204,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AdvanSix by 12.5% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 148,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,619,000 after acquiring an additional 16,525 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of AdvanSix by 9.2% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 451,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,035,000 after acquiring an additional 38,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of AdvanSix during the third quarter valued at $4,081,000. Institutional investors own 86.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of AdvanSix in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th.

AdvanSix Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ASIX traded down $0.85 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $22.07. 136,696 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 147,621. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a market cap of $591.92 million, a PE ratio of 764.25 and a beta of 1.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.23. AdvanSix has a 1-year low of $21.55 and a 1-year high of $40.85.

AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported ($0.63) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.61) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $336.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $344.63 million. AdvanSix had a return on equity of 0.06% and a net margin of 0.15%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AdvanSix will post 1.22 EPS for the current year.

AdvanSix Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th were paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. AdvanSix’s payout ratio is 2,134.04%.

AdvanSix Company Profile

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.