Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) Trading Up 8.3% – Time to Buy?

Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ:RUN)’s share price rose 8.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $8.85 and last traded at $9.0650. Approximately 4,141,445 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 9,479,824 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.37.

Sunrun News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Sunrun this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PG&E VPP partnership expands Sunrun’s distributed-energy opportunity. PG&E launched a Bay Area virtual power plant that will aggregate energy resources such as home batteries and heat pumps. Sunrun is participating alongside Google, Tesla, Carrier, Renew Home and other technology providers. The program could strengthen Sunrun’s role in managing residential energy assets and create longer-term opportunities for grid-services revenue, although the announcements did not disclose a material near-term financial impact. PG&E launches VPP program tapping into home batteries and heat pumps PG&E teams up with Google, Tesla, Sunrun on Bay Area virtual power plant
• Positive Sentiment: Call-option activity points to speculative bullish interest. Investors purchased 78,935 Sunrun call options on September 2, approximately 184% above typical daily call volume. Heavy call buying can indicate expectations for a rebound or increased volatility, but it does not guarantee buying in the underlying shares. Most Active Options Report: DELL, CRDO, GTLB, RUN, ALLY
• Neutral Sentiment: A comparison of Fervo Energy and Sunrun provides industry and company context but does not identify a new catalyst, earnings change or specific price target for Sunrun. Comparing Fervo Energy and Sunrun
• Negative Sentiment: High short interest remains an overhang. Sunrun was included in a screen of the most-short-interest industrial stocks with market capitalizations above $2 billion. Elevated short positioning can pressure the stock and increase volatility, though it also leaves room for a potential short squeeze if positive news attracts buyers. Most and least shorted industrial stocks with market caps above $2 billion

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on RUN shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Sunrun from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Sunrun in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Sunrun from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Sunrun from $22.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Sunrun from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.81.

Sunrun Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 2.37. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.75.

Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $869.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.87 million. Sunrun had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 9.59%. The company’s revenue was up 52.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Sunrun Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sunrun

In other news, CFO Danny Abajian sold 16,495 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.19, for a total value of $217,569.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 420,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,543,994.42. This represents a 3.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CAO Maria Barak sold 3,278 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.17, for a total value of $39,893.26. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 90,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,095,701.61. This represents a 3.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 173,045 shares of company stock valued at $2,138,835. 3.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sunrun

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Sunrun in the second quarter worth $25,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Sunrun by 156.9% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,449 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Sunrun in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Sunrun by 59.1% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,519 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Sunrun during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 91.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sunrun Company Profile

Sunrun, Inc (NASDAQ: RUN) is a leading provider of residential solar energy systems in the United States. The company designs, installs and maintains rooftop solar panels and battery storage solutions for homeowners under flexible financing arrangements. Customers can choose from leasing, power purchase agreements or solar ownership models, all of which are supported by Sunrun’s network of installation partners and service technicians. Sunrun also offers integrated home energy management services, including its Brightbox battery storage product, which enables customers to store solar energy for use during peak hours or power outages.

Founded in 2007 by Lynn Jurich, Ed Fenster and Nat Kreamer, Sunrun is headquartered in San Francisco, California.