Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Reduces Stock Position in Nextpower Inc. $NXT

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management cut its stake in Nextpower by 23.7% in Q4, selling 863,715 shares and now holds 2,781,746 shares (~1.87%) valued at about $242.32 million.
• Company insiders have been selling: the CEO sold 59,456 shares and a director sold 5,000, with insiders disposing of 104,348 shares worth roughly $10.88 million over the last 90 days and now owning just 0.56%.
• Wall Street remains largely positive—several firms raised price targets (UBS $140, Needham $138, Deutsche Bank $129) and the consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average target of $117.47, supported by a recent quarterly beat (EPS $1.10 vs. $0.93; revenue $909.35M).

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA cut its stake in Nextpower Inc. (NASDAQ:NXT - Free Report) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,781,746 shares of the company's stock after selling 863,715 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 1.87% of Nextpower worth $242,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Nextpower by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,167,845 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,048,279,000 after purchasing an additional 283,981 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Nextpower by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,391,696 shares of the company's stock valued at $398,932,000 after purchasing an additional 31,689 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Nextpower by 9.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,725,449 shares of the company's stock valued at $201,656,000 after purchasing an additional 245,412 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Nextpower by 2.9% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,357,523 shares of the company's stock valued at $174,459,000 after purchasing an additional 67,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Nextpower by 156.1% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 2,111,628 shares of the company's stock valued at $161,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287,071 shares in the last quarter. 67.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nextpower Price Performance

NASDAQ:NXT opened at $121.41 on Monday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $114.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.96. Nextpower Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.16 and a 52 week high of $131.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 2.02.

Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.17. Nextpower had a return on equity of 32.01% and a net margin of 16.43%.The company had revenue of $909.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $812.43 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nextpower Inc. will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nextpower news, Director William D. Watkins sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.57, for a total transaction of $592,850.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,777 shares in the company, valued at $1,396,398.89. This represents a 29.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel S. Shugar sold 59,456 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.17, for a total value of $6,252,987.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 746,339 shares in the company, valued at $78,492,472.63. This trade represents a 7.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 104,348 shares of company stock worth $10,876,525 over the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on NXT shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Nextpower from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $129.00 price objective on Nextpower and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Nextpower from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Nextpower from $103.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Nextpower from $109.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $117.47.

About Nextpower

Nextpower, formerly known as Nextracker, is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol NXT and is a leading provider of advanced solar tracking solutions for utility-scale and distributed energy projects. The company specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of single-axis tracker systems that optimize the capture of solar energy by following the sun’s trajectory throughout the day. Nextpower’s core hardware offerings aim to enhance energy yield, reduce balance-of-system costs and simplify installation and maintenance for downstream solar developers and operators.

In addition to its tracker hardware, Nextpower provides a suite of digital software and analytics tools to maximize asset performance.

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