Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) Shares Gap Down - Time to Sell?

Quanex Building Products Co. (NYSE:NX - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $28.91, but opened at $26.99. Quanex Building Products shares last traded at $28.00, with a volume of 205,398 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NX. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of Quanex Building Products in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Quanex Building Products from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday.

Quanex Building Products Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $29.62 and a 200-day moving average of $29.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.24.

Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The construction company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.08. Quanex Building Products had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 14.06%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Quanex Building Products Co. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quanex Building Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Quanex Building Products's dividend payout ratio is 28.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quanex Building Products

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NX. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Quanex Building Products by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 19,203 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $562,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Quanex Building Products by 37.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,040,987 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $28,894,000 after purchasing an additional 286,128 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc boosted its position in Quanex Building Products by 720.3% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 19,360 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 17,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Quanex Building Products by 391.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,794 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,325,000 after purchasing an additional 66,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in shares of Quanex Building Products by 69.4% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 1,477 shares of the construction company's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.48% of the company's stock.

Quanex Building Products Company Profile

Quanex Building Products Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides components for the fenestration industry in the United States, rest of Europe, Canada, Asia, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North American Fenestration, European Fenestration, and North American Cabinet Components.