Apogee Enterprises (NASDAQ:APOG) Shares Down 9.2% After Analyst Downgrade

Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) shares dropped 9.2% on Wednesday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as low as $52.01 and last traded at $52.30. Approximately 128,135 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 349,319 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.60.

Separately, DA Davidson dropped their target price on Apogee Enterprises from $75.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of APOG. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Apogee Enterprises by 15.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 917,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,620,000 after acquiring an additional 122,811 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Apogee Enterprises by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 528,769 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,225,000 after purchasing an additional 99,495 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Apogee Enterprises in the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,845,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Apogee Enterprises by 70.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 162,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,369,000 after buying an additional 67,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Apogee Enterprises by 1,004.1% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 72,683 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,567,000 after buying an additional 66,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.05% of the company’s stock.

Apogee Enterprises Stock Down 3.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.32.

Apogee Enterprises (NASDAQ:APOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. Apogee Enterprises had a return on equity of 24.12% and a net margin of 7.58%. The company had revenue of $341.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $332.27 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apogee Enterprises, Inc. will post 5.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apogee Enterprises Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 28th. This is a boost from Apogee Enterprises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apogee Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.05%.

About Apogee Enterprises

Apogee Enterprises, Inc provides architectural products and services for enclosing buildings, and glass and acrylic products used for preservation, protection, and enhanced viewing in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. The company operates in four segments: Architectural Framing Systems, Architectural Glass, Architectural Services, and Large-Scale Optical (LSO).