Granahan Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Generac Holdings Inc. $GNRC

Granahan Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNRC) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,213 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,581,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GNRC. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Generac by 49.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,423,971 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $330,557,000 after purchasing an additional 806,430 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Generac by 2.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,189,927 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $313,619,000 after buying an additional 45,592 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Generac by 7.1% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,947,332 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $326,003,000 after buying an additional 128,439 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Generac by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,490,876 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $202,943,000 after buying an additional 6,332 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Generac by 20.7% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,104,362 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $184,870,000 after buying an additional 189,457 shares in the last quarter. 84.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Generac from $238.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Generac from $228.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Generac in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $257.00 target price on shares of Generac in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Generac from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Norman P. Taffe sold 550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.00, for a total transaction of $140,800.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,046,848. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.18, for a total value of $1,360,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 564,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $153,653,231.04. This represents a 0.88% 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 three months, insiders sold 6,100 shares of company stock valued at $1,651,443. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Generac Trading Down 4.0%

Shares of GNRC opened at $202.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Generac Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $134.80 and a 1-year high of $296.44. The stock has a market cap of $11.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $256.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $222.70.

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. Generac had a return on equity of 15.45% and a net margin of 4.37%.Generac’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Generac Holdings Inc. will post 8.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Generac

Generac Holdings Inc (NYSE: GNRC) is a leading manufacturer of backup power generation products for residential, commercial and industrial applications. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of standby and portable generators, transfer switches and power management systems designed to provide reliable electricity during power outages and other critical situations. With an emphasis on innovation, Generac has expanded its offerings to include clean energy technologies such as battery storage and integrated solar-plus-storage systems.

Generac’s product lineup addresses a broad range of customer needs.