Nextpower Inc. (NASDAQ:NXT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Nextpower Inc. (NASDAQ:NXT) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 6,832,548 shares, a growth of 28.2% from the February 26th total of 5,328,603 shares. Currently, 4.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,835,885 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Nextpower from $103.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Nextpower from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $104.00 target price on shares of Nextpower in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Nextpower in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Nextpower in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.49.

Nextpower Trading Up 7.1%

Shares of NXT opened at $120.55 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $17.90 billion, a PE ratio of 30.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 2.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $114.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.90. Nextpower has a 12-month low of $36.06 and a 12-month high of $131.72.

Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $909.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $812.43 million. Nextpower had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 32.01%. As a group, analysts predict that Nextpower will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Nextpower news, Director William D. Watkins sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.57, for a total transaction of $592,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,777 shares in the company, valued at $1,396,398.89. This trade represents a 29.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Daniel S. Shugar sold 59,456 shares of Nextpower stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.17, for a total transaction of $6,252,987.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 746,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,492,472.63. The trade was a 7.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 104,348 shares of company stock valued at $10,876,525. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nextpower

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NXT. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Nextpower by 451.0% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 9,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $808,000 after acquiring an additional 7,591 shares during the last quarter. Osbon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Nextpower in the fourth quarter valued at $394,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Nextpower by 35.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 3,852 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group bought a new stake in Nextpower during the fourth quarter worth about $233,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Nextpower by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 21,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,892,000 after purchasing an additional 1,997 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.41% of the company’s stock.

About Nextpower

Nextpower, formerly known as Nextracker, is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol NXT and is a leading provider of advanced solar tracking solutions for utility-scale and distributed energy projects. The company specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of single-axis tracker systems that optimize the capture of solar energy by following the sun’s trajectory throughout the day. Nextpower’s core hardware offerings aim to enhance energy yield, reduce balance-of-system costs and simplify installation and maintenance for downstream solar developers and operators.

In addition to its tracker hardware, Nextpower provides a suite of digital software and analytics tools to maximize asset performance.