Short Interest in NWPX Infrastructure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NWPX) Rises By 79.5%

NWPX Infrastructure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NWPX) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 239,594 shares, a growth of 79.5% from the April 15th total of 133,446 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 182,415 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.3 days. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

NWPX Infrastructure Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NWPX opened at $107.20 on Wednesday. NWPX Infrastructure has a twelve month low of $37.99 and a twelve month high of $114.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.10.

NWPX Infrastructure (NASDAQ:NWPX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $138.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.10 million. NWPX Infrastructure had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 7.66%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NWPX Infrastructure will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded NWPX Infrastructure from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded NWPX Infrastructure from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, May 10th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on NWPX Infrastructure from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded NWPX Infrastructure from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $90.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NWPX Infrastructure news, EVP Miles Brittain sold 3,300 shares of NWPX Infrastructure stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.89, for a total transaction of $233,937.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,006 shares in the company, valued at $1,418,225.34. The trade was a 14.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott J. Montross sold 2,500 shares of NWPX Infrastructure stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.44, for a total value of $178,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,977 shares in the company, valued at $4,713,396.88. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 20,273 shares of company stock valued at $1,490,019 over the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in NWPX Infrastructure by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,705 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,768,000 after buying an additional 3,811 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in NWPX Infrastructure by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 55,293 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,305,000 after acquiring an additional 4,162 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in NWPX Infrastructure during the 1st quarter worth $201,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in NWPX Infrastructure by 67.3% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 8,941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $696,000 after acquiring an additional 3,596 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in NWPX Infrastructure by 21.3% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 84,574 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,585,000 after acquiring an additional 14,870 shares during the period. 80.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NWPX Infrastructure Company Profile

Northwest Pipe Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and supply of water-related infrastructure products in North America. It operates in two segments, Engineered Steel Pressure Pipe (SPP) and Precast Infrastructure and Engineered Systems (Precast). The SPP segment offers large-diameter and high-pressure steel pipeline systems for use in water infrastructure applications, which are primarily related to drinking water systems. Its products are also used for hydroelectric power systems, wastewater systems, seismic resiliency, and other applications.