Plug Power, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) Stock Rated "Hold" by Wall Street Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate Plug Power “Hold” overall: Of 16 analysts, seven recommend holding, five recommend buying, three recommend selling, and one gives a strong-buy rating. The average 12-month price target is $3.40.
• Plug Power reported a quarterly loss of $0.07 per share, slightly better than estimates, while revenue of $178.3 million exceeded expectations and increased 2.5% year over year. However, the company continues to post substantial negative margins and return on equity.
• Institutional ownership is significant and growing: Major investors including BlackRock, State Street, Renaissance Technologies, Handelsbanken Fonder, and Dimensional Fund Advisors increased their stakes, while an insider sold 200,000 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan.

Shares of Plug Power, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $3.40.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PLUG shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Plug Power in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Craig Hallum reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Plug Power in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Plug Power from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Plug Power to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price objective (up from $3.50) on shares of Plug Power in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th.

Plug Power Stock Performance

Plug Power stock opened at $1.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 2.32. Plug Power has a fifty-two week low of $1.34 and a fifty-two week high of $4.33. The stock has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.10 and a beta of 2.28. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $1.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.53.

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The electronics maker reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $178.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $169.11 million. Plug Power had a negative return on equity of 56.01% and a negative net margin of 220.59%. The firm's revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Plug Power will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Plug Power

In other news, insider Benjamin Haycraft sold 200,000 shares of Plug Power 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 241,935 shares of company stock worth $509,397 over the last ninety days. 1.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLUG. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Plug Power by 21.0% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 184,032,469 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $498,728,000 after acquiring an additional 31,939,194 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Plug Power by 6.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,763,529 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $105,049,000 after acquiring an additional 2,214,427 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Plug Power by 97.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 27,738,500 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $62,689,000 after acquiring an additional 13,685,900 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Plug Power by 446.9% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 19,014,270 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $51,529,000 after acquiring an additional 15,537,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Plug Power by 241.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,134,913 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $40,971,000 after acquiring an additional 12,820,616 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 43.48% of the company's stock.

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.

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