Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) by 4.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 579,610 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 27,959 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in American Axle & Manufacturing were worth $4,051,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,146,031 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $124,627,000 after purchasing an additional 191,737 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,669,092 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $67,565,000 after purchasing an additional 465,585 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,076,121 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $27,101,000 after purchasing an additional 187,653 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 19.0% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,912,907 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $14,079,000 after purchasing an additional 304,847 shares during the period. Finally, Whitebox Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 74.7% in the first quarter. Whitebox Advisors LLC now owns 1,095,642 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $8,064,000 after purchasing an additional 468,573 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AXL. Wolfe Research raised shares of American Axle & Manufacturing to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing from $7.00 to $7.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.58.

American Axle & Manufacturing Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of AXL opened at $5.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $664.33 million, a PE ratio of -80.70 and a beta of 1.95. American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $5.43 and a 1 year high of $8.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.02.

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The auto parts company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. American Axle & Manufacturing had a net margin of 0.04% and a return on equity of 3.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.12 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.