Cosan (NYSE:CSAN) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Cosan S.A. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:CSAN)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $2.59, but opened at $2.75. Cosan shares last traded at $2.7350, with a volume of 244,119 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Cosan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Cosan in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Cosan from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $5.00 to $3.20 in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $3.85.

Cosan Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The stock has a market cap of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.14 and a beta of 0.74.

Cosan (NYSE:CSAN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported ($1.61) EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter. Cosan had a negative return on equity of 14.30% and a negative net margin of 24.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cosan news, CEO Marcelo Eduardo Martins acquired 2,441,528 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $5.14 per share, for a total transaction of $12,549,453.92. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,890,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,136,070.04. This represents a 99.70% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Maria Rita De Carvalh Drummond sold 37,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.48, for a total transaction of $204,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 2,128,536 shares in the company, valued at $11,664,377.28. This represents a 1.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 187,040 shares of company stock worth $869,816 over the last three months.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cosan

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Cosan by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,492,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,797,000 after purchasing an additional 941,548 shares during the period. Monaco Asset Management SAM grew its stake in shares of Cosan by 200.5% during the fourth quarter. Monaco Asset Management SAM now owns 3,004,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,869,000 after purchasing an additional 2,004,813 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Cosan by 5,210.4% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 776,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,068,000 after purchasing an additional 761,968 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd grew its stake in shares of Cosan by 1,312.8% during the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 588,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,325,000 after purchasing an additional 547,051 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cosan by 235.0% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 487,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after acquiring an additional 341,973 shares during the period.

About Cosan

Cosan Limited (NYSE: CSAN) is a Brazilian diversified energy and logistics group focused on agribusiness, fuels, and infrastructure. Its core activities include the cultivation of sugarcane, production of ethanol and sugar, generation of bioelectricity from bagasse, and distribution of fuels under the Raízen joint venture with Shell. Through its subsidiary Moove, Cosan is a leading global producer of base oils and lubricants, while Comgás serves as one of Brazil’s largest natural gas distributors.

Founded in 1936 in the state of São Paulo, Cosan has grown through organic expansion and strategic acquisitions.