Zacks Research Downgrades Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC) to Hold

Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AMRC. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ameresco from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ameresco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Ameresco from $44.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Ameresco in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Ameresco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.89.

Ameresco Price Performance

Ameresco stock opened at $22.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 2.63. Ameresco has a 12-month low of $18.38 and a 12-month high of $44.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $24.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.16.

Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20. The business had revenue of $515.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $465.18 million. Ameresco had a net margin of 1.40% and a return on equity of 2.82%. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. Ameresco has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.150-1.350 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ameresco will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ameresco

In other news, Director Jennifer L. Miller bought 2,000 shares of Ameresco stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.96 per share, for a total transaction of $41,920.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 34,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $724,084.16. The trade was a 6.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO George P. Sakellaris purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $22.13 per share, with a total value of $66,390.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,013,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,430,901.61. This trade represents a 0.30% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders purchased 75,025 shares of company stock valued at $1,778,963 over the last quarter. 45.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameresco

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Ameresco by 3,311.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,020,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,158,000 after purchasing an additional 990,328 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new position in Ameresco during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,657,000. Northside Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ameresco during the second quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Ameresco by 5.3% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 857,979 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,680,000 after buying an additional 42,826 shares during the period. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. grew its stake in Ameresco by 550.8% during the first quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 2,005 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.24% of the company’s stock.

About Ameresco

Ameresco, Inc is a leading independent provider of comprehensive energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions for businesses and governments across North America, Europe and other select markets. Its integrated services portfolio includes energy efficiency retrofits, infrastructure upgrades, distributed generation systems and facility-scale renewable projects. Leveraging performance-based contracting models, Ameresco designs, finances, installs and maintains energy improvements intended to reduce operational costs, mitigate environmental impact and enhance resiliency for its clients.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts, Ameresco has completed thousands of projects spanning solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas‐to‐energy, energy storage and microgrid installations.