Generac (NYSE:GNRC) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

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

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GNRC. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Generac in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised Generac from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $305.00 target price on Generac in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on Generac from $263.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Generac from $285.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.65.

Generac Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of GNRC opened at $212.13 on Monday. Generac has a fifty-two week low of $134.80 and a fifty-two week high of $296.44. The firm has a market cap of $12.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.88, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $200.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $225.99. 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 (NYSE:GNRC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.90. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Generac had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 17.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Generac will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kyle Raabe sold 603 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.50, for a total value of $138,388.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 10,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,376,702. This trade represents a 5.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Aaron Jagdfeld sold 5,000 shares of Generac stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.89, for a total transaction of $974,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 554,528 shares in the company, valued at $108,071,961.92. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,839 shares of company stock worth $2,519,973. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Generac in the second quarter worth $1,170,960,000. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Generac by 19,433.0% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 666,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $130,104,000 after buying an additional 662,665 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Generac during the second quarter valued at $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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.04% of the company’s stock.

Generac Company Profile

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.