Zacks Research Downgrades Generac (NYSE:GNRC) to Hold

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $305.00 price target on Generac in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Generac in a research report on Monday, July 20th. HSBC lowered shares of Generac to a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $280.00 target price on shares of Generac in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Generac from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.40.

Generac Stock Performance

Shares of GNRC stock opened at $212.13 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 2.04. Generac has a one year low of $134.80 and a one year high of $296.44. The company’s 50-day moving average is $200.49 and its 200 day moving average is $225.99.

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.90. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. Generac had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 17.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Generac will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Generac

In related news, CEO Aaron Jagdfeld sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.21, for a total transaction of $911,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 549,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,129,496.88. The trade was a 0.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Norman Taffe sold 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.50, for a total transaction of $34,425.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 11,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,587,842. This represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,839 shares of company stock worth $2,519,973. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Generac

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GNRC. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Generac during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,170,960,000. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Generac by 19,433.0% in the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 666,075 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $130,104,000 after purchasing an additional 662,665 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Generac in the second quarter worth $175,942,000. Park Presidio Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Generac during the 2nd quarter valued at $158,140,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Generac during the 4th quarter valued at $68,590,000. 84.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Generac

Generac Holdings Inc is an energy technology company that designs and manufactures power generation equipment, energy storage systems and other products intended to provide backup and distributed energy solutions. Its offerings serve residential, commercial, industrial and other users seeking standby power, portable power or greater control over energy use.

The company’s product portfolio includes home standby generators, portable generators, commercial and industrial generators, mobile power equipment, engines and related transfer switches and controls.