American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) Short Interest Up 9.6% in October

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,440,000 shares, an increase of 9.6% from the October 15th total of 4,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

American Axle & Manufacturing Stock Performance

American Axle & Manufacturing stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Monday, hitting $6.19. The stock had a trading volume of 1,116,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,588,791. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $6.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.28. The stock has a market cap of $727.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.29 and a beta of 1.95. American Axle & Manufacturing has a 1 year low of $5.43 and a 1 year high of $8.99.

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The auto parts company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. American Axle & Manufacturing had a return on equity of 9.63% and a net margin of 0.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.11) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that American Axle & Manufacturing will post 0.43 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of American Axle & Manufacturing to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from $7.00 to $7.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Axle & Manufacturing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.38.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Axle & Manufacturing

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 2.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,268,651 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $57,797,000 after buying an additional 236,423 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its holdings in American Axle & Manufacturing by 1.1% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,873,408 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $41,055,000 after purchasing an additional 64,546 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in American Axle & Manufacturing by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,704,889 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $29,076,000 after acquiring an additional 23,538 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,889,357 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $20,197,000 after purchasing an additional 399,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,654,883 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $16,411,000 after acquiring an additional 21,054 shares in the last quarter. 91.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Axle & Manufacturing Company Profile

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, engineers, and manufactures driveline and metal forming technologies that supports electric, hybrid, and internal combustion vehicles. It operates through two segments, Driveline and Metal Forming segments. The Driveline segment offers front and rear axles, driveshafts, differential assemblies, clutch modules, balance shaft systems, disconnecting driveline technology, and electric and hybrid driveline products and systems for light trucks, sport utility vehicles, crossover vehicles, passenger cars, and commercial vehicles.