Generac (NYSE:GNRC) Given Buy Rating at Stifel Nicolaus

Generac (NYSE:GNRC)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $175.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $145.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 18.83% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Guggenheim cut Generac from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $120.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Oppenheimer cut Generac from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Generac from $149.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Generac from $139.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Generac from $142.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.90.

Generac Stock Down 5.4 %

GNRC stock traded down $8.41 on Thursday, hitting $147.27. 359,055 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 995,597. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $145.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $131.97. Generac has a 12-month low of $79.86 and a 12-month high of $169.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 2.29. The stock has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.37.

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.15. Generac had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 5.68%. The company had revenue of $998.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Generac will post 6.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Patrick John Forsythe sold 65,855 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.80, for a total value of $9,601,659.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,815 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,027. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Nam Tran Nguyen sold 546 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.55, for a total value of $76,740.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,512 shares in the company, valued at $493,611.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick John Forsythe sold 65,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.80, for a total value of $9,601,659.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,815 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,027. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 75,785 shares of company stock worth $11,020,661 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Generac during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Generac by 73.2% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 213 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Generac by 611.1% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 256 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in Generac in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in Generac by 219.6% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 294 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. 84.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Generac Company Profile

Generac Holdings Inc designs, manufactures, and distributes various energy technology products and solution worldwide. The company offers residential automatic standby generators, automatic transfer switch, air-cooled engine residential standby generators, and liquid-cooled engine generators; Mobile Link, a remote monitoring system for home standby generators; residential storage solution, which consists of a system of batteries, an inverter, photovoltaic optimizers, power electronic controls, and other components; smart home solutions, such as smart thermostats and a suite of home monitoring products.