Generac (NYSE:GNRC) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Generac from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 28th. Barclays raised their price target on Generac from $188.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Generac from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital set a $184.00 price target on shares of Generac and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on shares of Generac in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $248.00 price target on the stock. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.06.

Generac Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of GNRC opened at $163.24 on Wednesday. Generac has a 1-year low of $99.50 and a 1-year high of $203.25. The company has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.96.

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25 by ($0.42). The company had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Generac had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 6.92%.Generac’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Generac will post 8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Generac news, CEO Aaron Jagdfeld sold 5,000 shares of Generac stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.43, for a total transaction of $832,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 542,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,365,831.38. The trade was a 0.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Generac

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Generac by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,932,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $878,053,000 after purchasing an additional 137,363 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Generac by 2.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,189,927 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $313,619,000 after buying an additional 45,592 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Generac by 17.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,138,139 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $355,530,000 after buying an additional 324,809 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Generac by 40.9% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,992,447 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $285,338,000 after acquiring an additional 577,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Generac by 7.1% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,947,332 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $326,003,000 after acquiring an additional 128,439 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.04% of the company’s stock.

About Generac

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.