Plug Power, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $3.40

Plug Power, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $3.40.

PLUG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Susquehanna cut their target price on Plug Power from $2.50 to $1.75 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Plug Power to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Craig Hallum reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Plug Power in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $1.20 price target on shares of Plug Power in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Plug Power from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st.

Plug Power Stock Down 3.9%

Shares of NASDAQ PLUG opened at $1.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.91 billion, a PE ratio of -1.08 and a beta of 2.28. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.39. Plug Power has a 12-month low of $1.34 and a 12-month high of $4.33.

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The electronics maker reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $178.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.11 million. Plug Power had a negative return on equity of 56.01% and a negative net margin of 220.59%. Plug Power’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Plug Power will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Plug Power

In related news, insider Benjamin Haycraft sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.14, for a total transaction of $428,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 101,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $216,672.86. This represents a 66.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 241,935 shares of company stock worth $509,397. Insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Plug Power

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Plug Power by 21.0% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 184,032,469 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $498,728,000 after buying an additional 31,939,194 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Plug Power in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,779,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Plug Power by 553.9% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 710,470 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after acquiring an additional 601,816 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Plug Power by 45.6% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,560,305 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,526,000 after acquiring an additional 488,883 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Plug Power by 97.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 27,738,500 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $62,689,000 after acquiring an additional 13,685,900 shares during the last quarter. 43.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Plug Power

Plug Power Inc is a clean-energy technology company that develops hydrogen and fuel-cell solutions for commercial and industrial customers. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Latham, New York, the company focuses on replacing conventional batteries and fossil-fuel-powered equipment with hydrogen-based power systems.

Its product portfolio includes fuel-cell systems for material-handling equipment, backup and stationary power, and commercial vehicles; hydrogen engines and fuel-cell stacks; electrolyzers that produce hydrogen from water; and hydrogen generation, storage, and delivery infrastructure.