Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on CWEN. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Clearway Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of Clearway Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $40.00) on shares of Clearway Energy in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. UBS Group set a $45.00 target price on Clearway Energy in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Clearway Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.14.

Clearway Energy Price Performance

Shares of Clearway Energy stock opened at $38.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.95. Clearway Energy has a 12 month low of $25.63 and a 12 month high of $41.51.

Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The company reported ($0.89) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($0.68). The firm had revenue of $310.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $334.42 million. Clearway Energy had a return on equity of 3.01% and a net margin of 11.83%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.41) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Clearway Energy will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clearway Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a $0.4602 dividend. This is a positive change from Clearway Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Clearway Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 127.46%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. grew its position in Clearway Energy by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 19,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $657,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clearway Energy by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 17,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Clearway Energy by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 33,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,104,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al increased its position in shares of Clearway Energy by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 28,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in Clearway Energy by 92.4% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. 84.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Clearway Energy

Clearway Energy Group (NYSE: CWEN) is a U.S.-based energy company specializing in the ownership, operation and development of clean and conventional power generation assets. The company’s portfolio spans utility-scale wind and solar farms, biogas and natural gas-fired thermal facilities, as well as distributed generation projects such as rooftop solar and energy storage. Clearway’s generation assets are largely underpinned by long-term power purchase agreements and service contracts with creditworthy counterparties, enabling stable, predictable cash flows.

Originally launched in 2013 as NRG Yield and rebranded to Clearway Energy in 2018 following a strategic sponsorship change, the business has grown into one of the largest independent renewable energy platforms in the United States.