First Eagle Investment Management LLC Trims Holdings in AdvanSix Inc. (NYSE:ASIX)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in AdvanSix Inc. (NYSE:ASIX) by 27.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 464,661 shares of the company’s stock after selling 173,716 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned about 1.74% of AdvanSix worth $13,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ASIX. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in AdvanSix during the 4th quarter worth $94,000. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in AdvanSix by 618.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 4,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after buying an additional 3,754 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in AdvanSix by 29.9% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 6,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,000 after buying an additional 1,396 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in AdvanSix during the 3rd quarter worth $204,000. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AdvanSix during the 4th quarter worth $223,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AdvanSix from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Transactions at AdvanSix

In related news, CEO Erin N. Kane sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.19, for a total value of $150,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 502,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,179,381.05. This represents a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

AdvanSix Stock Performance

NYSE:ASIX opened at $24.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. AdvanSix Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.86 and a fifty-two week high of $33.00. The stock has a market cap of $643.57 million, a PE ratio of 14.95 and a beta of 1.73. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.47.

AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.40. AdvanSix had a net margin of 2.91% and a return on equity of 6.26%. The business had revenue of $329.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $377.15 million. Analysts expect that AdvanSix Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AdvanSix Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. AdvanSix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.75%.

About AdvanSix

AdvanSix Inc engages in the manufacture and sale of polymer resins in the United States and internationally. It offers Nylon 6, a polymer resin, which is a synthetic material used to produce fibers, filaments, engineered plastics, and films. The company also provides caprolactam to manufacture polymer resins; ammonium sulfate fertilizers to distributors, farm cooperatives, and retailers; and acetone that are used in the production of adhesives, paints, coatings, solvents, herbicides, and engineered plastic resins, as well as other intermediate chemicals, including phenol, monoisopropylamine, dipropylamine, monoallylamine, alpha-methylstyrene, cyclohexanone, methyl ethyl ketoxime, acetaldehyde oxime, 2-pentanone oxime, cyclohexanol, sulfuric acid, ammonia, and carbon dioxide.