Wall Street Zen Downgrades Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) to Strong Sell

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on PLUG. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price target (up from $3.50) on shares of Plug Power in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Plug Power from $1.50 to $1.65 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Plug Power in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 target price on shares of Plug Power in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Plug Power from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $3.59.

Plug Power Stock Performance

Shares of Plug Power stock opened at $1.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.51 and a beta of 2.28. Plug Power has a 52-week low of $1.70 and a 52-week high of $4.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 2.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.61.

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The electronics maker reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $178.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.11 million. Plug Power had a negative net margin of 220.59% and a negative return on equity of 56.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Plug Power will post -0.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Plug Power

In other news, insider Benjamin Haycraft sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.14, for a total value of $428,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 101,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $216,672.86. This trade represents a 66.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 232,560 shares of company stock valued at $496,178 in the last three months. 1.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Plug Power

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PLUG. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Plug Power in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Greenleaf Trust purchased a new position in shares of Plug Power during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. DUTCH ASSET Corp bought a new position in shares of Plug Power in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Manatuck Hill Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Plug Power in the second quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Plug Power in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors own 43.48% of the company’s stock.

About Plug Power

Plug Power Inc is a clean-energy technology company that develops and supplies hydrogen and fuel-cell solutions. Its products include fuel-cell systems and engines for material-handling equipment, backup and stationary power, and other commercial and industrial applications. The company also provides electrolyzers for producing hydrogen, along with hydrogen generation, liquefaction, storage, and delivery services.

Plug Power serves customers in material handling, transportation, power generation, and industrial markets.