Energy Recovery Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:ERII)

Energy Recovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERII) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 2,282 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 308% compared to the average volume of 559 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Energy Recovery

In related news, Director Arve Hanstveit sold 165,292 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.14, for a total transaction of $1,676,060.88. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 384,928 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,169.92. This trade represents a 30.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Pamela L. Tondreau acquired 20,000 shares of Energy Recovery stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.34 per share, for a total transaction of $166,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 37,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,599.08. The trade was a 115.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Energy Recovery

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ERII. Wexford Capital LP bought a new stake in Energy Recovery in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Parallel Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Energy Recovery in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Group One Trading LLC bought a new stake in Energy Recovery in the first quarter worth about $41,000. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in Energy Recovery by 150.5% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 3,868 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 2,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Energy Recovery by 172.2% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 3,803 shares in the last quarter. 83.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ERII has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Energy Recovery from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Seaport Research Partners reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 price target on shares of Energy Recovery in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Northcoast Research downgraded Energy Recovery from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Loop Capital set a $13.00 price target on Energy Recovery in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Energy Recovery from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.00.

Energy Recovery Stock Performance

Shares of ERII stock traded up $0.78 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.36. 645,911 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 835,193. Energy Recovery has a 12 month low of $7.83 and a 12 month high of $18.32. The company has a market cap of $482.47 million, a P/E ratio of 24.64 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $9.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.00.

Energy Recovery (NASDAQ:ERII) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $9.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.37 million. Energy Recovery had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 15.07%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Energy Recovery will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

About Energy Recovery

Energy Recovery, Inc (NASDAQ: ERII) is an energy technology company specializing in the design and manufacture of high-efficiency devices that capture and repurpose energy in fluid-handling applications. The company’s core offering, the Pressure Exchanger® (PX®) device, enables seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plants to recover and reuse hydraulic energy that would otherwise be lost during brine discharge. By integrating PX technology into desalination processes, Energy Recovery helps operators significantly reduce the energy consumption and operating costs of producing fresh water from seawater or brackish sources.

In addition to desalination solutions, Energy Recovery has expanded its portfolio to serve the oil and gas sector through turbocharger systems that improve the energy efficiency of hydraulic fracturing operations.