ATS (NYSE:ATS) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of ATS (NYSE:ATS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Sunday.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on ATS. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of ATS in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of ATS in a report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on ATS from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of ATS in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded ATS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ATS presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.00.

ATS Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE ATS opened at $31.56 on Friday. ATS has a 52 week low of $20.90 and a 52 week high of $32.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 210.41 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $28.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.68.

ATS (NYSE:ATS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $553.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.96 million. ATS had a net margin of 0.77% and a return on equity of 9.67%. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that ATS will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ATS

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of ATS by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,644,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,529,000 after acquiring an additional 623,369 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in ATS by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 6,888,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,771,000 after purchasing an additional 507,491 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ATS by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,397,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,582,000 after purchasing an additional 55,731 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of ATS by 187.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,022,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of ATS by 19.9% during the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,369,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,603,000 after purchasing an additional 392,874 shares during the period. 75.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ATS

ATS Corporation (NYSE: ATS) is a Canada-based global provider of automation and energy solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario, the company specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of custom automation and test systems, as well as fluid handling and control products. Since its founding in 1978, ATS has focused on delivering integrated hardware and software solutions that help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) improve efficiency, quality and throughput across a range of industries.

Through its Automation segment, ATS develops bespoke assembly and testing platforms for sectors such as life sciences, consumer electronics, automotive and industrial equipment.