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

Putnam Investments LLC grew its stake in American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL – Get Rating) by 39.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 161,586 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing 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 quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AXL. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 46,317 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 7,940 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 95.9% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 61,060 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 29,891 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 98,332 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 12,124 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. bought a new stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $466,000. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its stake in shares of American Axle & Manufacturing by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 105,521 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $843,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040 shares during the last quarter. 95.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Eugene Barnes sold 29,533 shares of American Axle & Manufacturing stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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 decreased their price target 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

American Axle & Manufacturing Trading Down 4.5 %

AXL opened at $8.04 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $8.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.92. The company has a market capitalization of $921.22 million, a P/E ratio of 15.17, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 2.27. 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 quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.54.

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 17th. The auto parts company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.01 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 billion. American Axle & Manufacturing had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.09) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

American Axle & Manufacturing Company Profile

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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.