Generac (NYSE:GNRC) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Generac (NYSE:GNRC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GNRC. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $283.00 price objective on shares of Generac in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price target on Generac from $263.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Generac from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $305.00 price objective on Generac in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Generac to a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.40.

Generac Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE GNRC opened at $204.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 2.04. The firm has a market cap of $12.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.17, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $202.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.31. Generac has a one year low of $134.80 and a one year high of $296.44.

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.90. Generac had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 17.83%. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Generac will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Norman Taffe sold 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.50, for a total transaction of $34,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,587,842. This represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Aaron Jagdfeld sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.21, for a total value of $911,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 549,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,129,496.88. The trade was a 0.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 12,839 shares of company stock valued at $2,519,973 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Generac

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GNRC. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Generac by 5.6% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,417 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Generac by 94.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 55,302 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,193,000 after buying an additional 26,836 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Generac in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,260,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in Generac during the 2nd quarter worth $688,000. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Generac during the 2nd quarter worth $377,000. 84.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Generac

Generac Holdings Inc is an energy technology company that designs and manufactures power generation and energy management products. Its portfolio includes residential standby generators, portable generators, commercial and industrial generator systems, and related transfer switches, controls and monitoring technologies.

The company also offers clean energy and electrification solutions, including battery energy storage systems, solar-related products, electric vehicle chargers and load-management technologies.