Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 90,765 Shares of Quanex Building Products Corporation $NX

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Quanex Building Products Corporation (NYSE:NX) by 41.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 308,194 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 90,765 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Quanex Building Products were worth $5,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Western Standard LLC purchased a new position in Quanex Building Products in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,219,000. IES Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Quanex Building Products during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,846,000. CenterBook Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Quanex Building Products by 656.3% in the 4th quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 274,231 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,218,000 after purchasing an additional 237,972 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quanex Building Products in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,617,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Quanex Building Products by 7.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,275,870 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $43,013,000 after purchasing an additional 166,518 shares during the last quarter. 97.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Quanex Building Products Price Performance

NX opened at $19.42 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $892.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.45, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.61. Quanex Building Products Corporation has a twelve month low of $11.04 and a twelve month high of $22.98.

Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $462.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $459.27 million. Quanex Building Products had a negative net margin of 13.85% and a positive return on equity of 11.11%. Equities analysts expect that Quanex Building Products Corporation will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Quanex Building Products Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Quanex Building Products’s payout ratio is presently -5.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on NX shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Quanex Building Products in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research raised Quanex Building Products from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Quanex Building Products presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

About Quanex Building Products

Quanex Building Products Corporation engages in the design, manufacture and distribution of components for the window, door and building products industries in North America. The company operates through two primary segments: Window Products and Door & Building Products. Its Window Products segment supplies vinyl window profiles and related accessories, while its Door & Building Products segment offers engineered door skins, panels, siding products, specialty moldings and other exterior building components.

Within its Window Products segment, Quanex produces extrusion profiles used by window fabricators to assemble vinyl casement, double-hung, slider and picture windows.