Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG)

Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 131,493 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 77% compared to the typical daily volume of 74,242 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on PLUG. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Plug Power from $9.00 to $6.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Plug Power from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Marathon Capitl reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Plug Power in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Plug Power from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $3.50 to $2.50 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Roth Mkm upgraded Plug Power from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $4.50 to $9.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $5.49.

Insider Transactions at Plug Power

In other news, Director George C. Mcnamee sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.56, for a total value of $25,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 639,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,637,304.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Plug Power

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Plug Power during the 4th quarter worth about $97,800,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Plug Power during the third quarter valued at approximately $13,496,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Plug Power during the 4th quarter worth $5,133,000. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its position in Plug Power by 41.4% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,775,808 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $12,989,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,813 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Plug Power by 183.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,656,282 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $7,453,000 after buying an additional 1,072,344 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 43.48% of the company's stock.

Plug Power Stock Up 19.0 %

Plug Power stock traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $3.44. 202,806,181 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,718,867. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $3.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.79. Plug Power has a 1-year low of $2.25 and a 1-year high of $13.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.43 and a beta of 1.64.

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 1st. The electronics maker reported ($1.08) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.56) by ($0.52). The firm had revenue of $222.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $234.21 million. Plug Power had a negative net margin of 181.96% and a negative return on equity of 43.10%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.38) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Plug Power will post -0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Plug Power

Plug Power Inc develops hydrogen and fuel cell product solutions in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers GenDrive, a hydrogen-fueled proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system that provides power to material handling electric vehicles; GenSure, a stationary fuel cell solution that offers modular PEM fuel cell power to support the backup and grid-support power requirements of the telecommunications, transportation, and utility sectors; ProGen, a fuel cell stack and engine technology used in mobility and stationary fuel cell systems, and as engines in electric delivery vans; GenFuel, a liquid hydrogen fueling delivery, generation, storage, and dispensing system; GenCare, an ongoing Internet of Things-based maintenance and on-site service program for GenDrive fuel cell systems, GenSure fuel cell systems, GenFuel hydrogen storage and dispensing products, and ProGen fuel cell engines; and GenKey, an integrated turn-key solution for transitioning to fuel cell power.