ATS (NYSE:ATS) Lowered to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

ATS (NYSE:ATS) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

ATS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of ATS from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of ATS in a report on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ATS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of ATS in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of ATS in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.00.

ATS Stock Down 0.7%

ATS stock opened at $29.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 198.71 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.65. The business’s 50-day moving average is $30.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.04. ATS has a fifty-two week low of $20.90 and a fifty-two week high of $33.01.

ATS (NYSE:ATS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.04. ATS had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 0.77%.The business had revenue of $553.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that ATS will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ATS

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATS. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in ATS by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,644,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,529,000 after acquiring an additional 623,369 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of ATS by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 6,888,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,771,000 after purchasing an additional 507,491 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of ATS by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,397,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,582,000 after purchasing an additional 55,731 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of ATS by 187.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,022,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of ATS by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,812,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,687,000 after purchasing an additional 43,365 shares during the period. 75.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ATS Company Profile

ATS Corporation (NYSE: ATS) is a Canada-based global provider of automation and energy solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario, the company specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of custom automation and test systems, as well as fluid handling and control products. Since its founding in 1978, ATS has focused on delivering integrated hardware and software solutions that help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) improve efficiency, quality and throughput across a range of industries.

Through its Automation segment, ATS develops bespoke assembly and testing platforms for sectors such as life sciences, consumer electronics, automotive and industrial equipment.