Putnam Investments LLC Purchases 45,374 Shares of American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL)

Putnam Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL – Get Rating) by 39.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 161,586 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,374 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC’s holdings in American Axle & Manufacturing were worth $1,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY boosted its stake in American Axle & Manufacturing by 18.2% during the third quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 6,900 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,061 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in American Axle & Manufacturing by 7.5% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 16,151 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 1,125 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,125 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 14,395 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 19,549 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515 shares during the last quarter. 95.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AXL. Citigroup lowered their price objective on American Axle & Manufacturing from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on American Axle & Manufacturing from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Axle & Manufacturing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Axle & Manufacturing news, VP David Eugene Barnes sold 29,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total transaction of $265,797.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 104,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,589. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

American Axle & Manufacturing Price Performance

Shares of AXL stock opened at $8.04 on Tuesday. American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.36 and a 52-week high of $11.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.54, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $921.22 million, a P/E ratio of 15.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 2.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $8.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.92.

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 17th. The auto parts company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by ($0.08). American Axle & Manufacturing had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.11%. The business had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. American Axle & Manufacturing’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

About American Axle & Manufacturing

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American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc engages in the manufacture, engineering, design, and validation of driveline systems and related components. It operates through the following segments: Driveline and Metal Forming. The Driveline segment consists of axles, drive shafts, power transfer units, rear drive modules, and electric and hybrid driveline products and systems for light trucks, service utility vehicles, crossover vehicles, passenger cars, and commercial vehicles.