Zacks Research Downgrades Symbotic (NASDAQ:SYM) to Strong Sell

Symbotic (NASDAQ:SYM) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Symbotic in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Symbotic from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Symbotic from $54.00 to $45.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Symbotic from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Symbotic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.23.

Symbotic Price Performance

Shares of SYM stock opened at $41.69 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $47.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.92. Symbotic has a 1-year low of $38.19 and a 1-year high of $87.88. The company has a market cap of $25.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -833.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.93.

Symbotic (NASDAQ:SYM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $676.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $662.65 million. Symbotic had a negative net margin of 0.20% and a negative return on equity of 0.68%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.04) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Symbotic will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO James Kuffner sold 3,878 shares of Symbotic stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.51, for a total value of $207,511.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 185,126 shares in the company, valued at $9,906,092.26. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Charles Kane sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.90, for a total value of $89,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 89,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,034,354.80. The trade was a 2.18% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 147,798 shares of company stock valued at $8,221,095. Insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Symbotic

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Symbotic by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Symbotic in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Symbotic by 67.3% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 619 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new position in Symbotic during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd purchased a new position in Symbotic during the fourth quarter valued at $48,000.

Symbotic Company Profile

Symbotic Inc (NASDAQ: SYM) is a provider of advanced warehouse automation and robotics systems designed to improve throughput, space utilization and labor productivity in distribution centers and fulfillment operations. The company develops integrated hardware and software solutions that automate the storage, retrieval, sorting and palletizing of goods, positioning itself as a systems integrator for material handling challenges faced by large-scale retailers, wholesalers and third-party logistics providers.

Products and services typically include autonomous robotic vehicles and shuttle systems, automated storage-and-retrieval equipment, robotic picking and palletizing cells, conveyors and sortation, together with control and management software that coordinates fleet operations and inventory flow.