ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to "Sell"

Key Points

• ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ) has been downgraded from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating by analysts at Wall Street Zen.
• Despite the downgrade, the average rating for ARQ remains a "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $10.00.
• Insider buying activity has increased, with directors purchasing a total of 150,000 shares of ARQ stock valued at $615,000 over the last ninety days.

ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on ARQ. Fearnley Fonds upgraded ARQ to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on ARQ in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $10.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on ARQ from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $10.00.

ARQ Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of ARQ stock traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $7.01. The stock had a trading volume of 201,663 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,805. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $299.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -175.25 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. ARQ has a 1 year low of $3.34 and a 1 year high of $8.11.

ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $28.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.56 million. ARQ had a negative return on equity of 0.07% and a negative net margin of 1.40%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ARQ will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at ARQ

In other ARQ news, Director Jeremy Blank acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.10 per share, for a total transaction of $205,000.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 374,955 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,315.50. This trade represents a 15.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard Campbell-Breeden acquired 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.10 per share, with a total value of $307,500.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 226,148 shares in the company, valued at $927,206.80. This represents a 49.62% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 150,000 shares of company stock worth $615,000 and sold 10,167 shares worth $52,868. 23.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ARQ

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARQ. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in ARQ by 3,981.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 708,324 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,362,000 after purchasing an additional 690,968 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in ARQ by 568.9% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 700,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,922,000 after purchasing an additional 595,855 shares in the last quarter. Marex Group plc acquired a new stake in ARQ during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,737,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in ARQ by 838.8% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 313,616 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,374,000 after purchasing an additional 280,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of ARQ in the 1st quarter worth approximately $836,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 18.49% of the company's stock.

ARQ Company Profile

Arq, Inc is a holding company. It engages in the provision of environmental and emission control equipment to the power generation industry. The company operates through the following Segments: Refined Coal and Advanced Purification Technologies. The Refined Coal segment includes the Tinuum Group, Tinuum Services, and GWN Manager.