Brokerages Set Energy Recovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERII) Target Price at $18.17

Key Points

• Energy Recovery, Inc. has a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from five brokerages, with an average 1-year price objective of $18.17.
• Recent insider activity includes Director Arve Hanstveit selling 30,000 shares while Director Pamela L. Tondreau purchased 4,200 shares, indicating mixed sentiment among company insiders.
• In its latest earnings report, Energy Recovery missed analysts' estimates with ($0.13) earnings per share and reported a revenue drop of 33.1% from the previous year.

Energy Recovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERII - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the five research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.1667.

ERII has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Energy Recovery from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. B. Riley lowered shares of Energy Recovery from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $20.00 to $12.50 in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of Energy Recovery from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Energy Recovery

In other news, CEO David W. Moon acquired 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.20 per share, with a total value of $51,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 36,950 shares of the company's stock, valued at $450,790. The trade was a 12.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela L. Tondreau acquired 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $12.28 per share, with a total value of $51,576.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 41,043 shares of the company's stock, valued at $504,008.04. This represents a 11.40% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,387 shares of company stock worth $710,656 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Energy Recovery

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ERII. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Energy Recovery by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,953,951 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $72,823,000 after purchasing an additional 978,490 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in Energy Recovery by 403.5% during the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 667,157 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $10,601,000 after purchasing an additional 534,662 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Energy Recovery during the fourth quarter worth $5,741,000. Kopion Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Energy Recovery during the second quarter worth $3,870,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Energy Recovery by 7.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,494,872 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $55,534,000 after purchasing an additional 242,494 shares during the last quarter. 83.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Energy Recovery Stock Performance

ERII traded up $0.41 during trading on Friday, hitting $13.20. The stock had a trading volume of 113,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 419,950. The firm has a market capitalization of $719.13 million, a P/E ratio of 35.66 and a beta of 1.03. The company's 50-day moving average price is $12.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.17. Energy Recovery has a twelve month low of $10.86 and a twelve month high of $20.27.

Energy Recovery (NASDAQ:ERII - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.03 by ($0.16). Energy Recovery had a return on equity of 9.96% and a net margin of 15.21%. The company had revenue of $8.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.08) earnings per share. Energy Recovery's revenue for the quarter was down 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Energy Recovery will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Energy Recovery

Energy Recovery, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells energy efficiency technology solutions in the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe. The company operates through Water and Emerging Technologies segments. The company offers high and low pressure, and ultra pressure exchangers; AT and LPT hydraulic turbochargers; and high-pressure feed and circulation booster pumps for use in seawater and brackish desalination, and wastewater treatment.