Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $4.12.

A number of research firms recently commented on PLUG. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Plug Power from $5.00 to $4.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Plug Power from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Craig Hallum dropped their price objective on shares of Plug Power from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Plug Power to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Plug Power in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

Plug Power Stock Down 6.5 %

PLUG opened at $1.72 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.80 and a beta of 1.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $2.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.16. Plug Power has a twelve month low of $1.60 and a twelve month high of $4.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The electronics maker reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $173.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.25 million. Plug Power had a negative net margin of 214.05% and a negative return on equity of 46.99%. Plug Power’s quarterly revenue was down 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.47) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Plug Power will post -1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Plug Power

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PLUG. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Plug Power by 20.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,109,530 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,588,000 after buying an additional 187,205 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Plug Power by 80.0% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 24,492 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 10,882 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Plug Power by 144.4% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 382,186 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $890,000 after acquiring an additional 225,834 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in Plug Power in the 2nd quarter worth $152,000. Finally, Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Plug Power during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 43.48% of the company’s stock.

Plug Power Company Profile

Plug Power Inc develops hydrogen and fuel cell product solutions in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers GenDrive, a hydrogen-fueled proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system that provides power to material handling electric vehicles; GenSure, a stationary fuel cell solution that offers modular PEM fuel cell power to support the backup and grid-support power requirements of the telecommunications, transportation, and utility sectors; ProGen, a fuel cell stack and engine technology used in mobility and stationary fuel cell systems, and as engines in electric delivery vans; GenFuel, a liquid hydrogen fueling delivery, generation, storage, and dispensing system; GenCare, an ongoing Internet of Things-based maintenance and on-site service program for GenDrive fuel cell systems, GenSure fuel cell systems, GenFuel hydrogen storage and dispensing products, and ProGen fuel cell engines; and GenKey, an integrated turn-key solution for transitioning to fuel cell power.