NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR) Shares Gap Down - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• NuScale Power's stock price saw a significant decline, opening at $45.72 down from a previous close of $50.21, with the stock last trading at $43.43 amidst high trading volume.
• Analysts have mixed views on NuScale Power, with UBS Group raising their price target to $34.00 and a consensus rating of "Hold" across multiple firms, while BTIG Research downgraded the stock from "buy" to "neutral".
• Insider transactions revealed that CEO John Lawrence Hopkins sold over 34,000 shares, reducing his ownership by more than 41%, while institutional investors maintain a strong presence, owning over 78% of the stock.

NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE:SMR - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $50.21, but opened at $45.72. NuScale Power shares last traded at $43.43, with a volume of 5,704,893 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SMR. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $35.00 target price on shares of NuScale Power and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of NuScale Power from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of NuScale Power in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $46.00 target price for the company. CLSA set a $41.00 target price on shares of NuScale Power and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $24.00 target price on shares of NuScale Power and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $33.00.

NuScale Power Trading Down 11.5%

The company's fifty day moving average is $39.77 and its 200 day moving average is $26.24. The company has a market capitalization of $12.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.45 and a beta of 2.06.

NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.06. NuScale Power had a negative net margin of 273.36% and a positive return on equity of 0.09%. The firm had revenue of $13.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 million. Equities research analysts predict that NuScale Power Corporation will post -0.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NuScale Power

In other NuScale Power news, VP Jacqueline F. Engel sold 1,565 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.94, for a total value of $26,511.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 1,218 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,632.92. This trade represents a 56.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Clayton Scott sold 10,019 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.78, for a total transaction of $168,118.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 86,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,459,272.70. The trade was a 10.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,278 shares of company stock valued at $1,786,990 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.27% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of NuScale Power

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SMR. Sei Investments Co. purchased a new stake in shares of NuScale Power during the 4th quarter valued at $552,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in NuScale Power in the 4th quarter worth $384,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in NuScale Power by 69.3% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 201,296 shares of the company's stock worth $3,609,000 after purchasing an additional 82,363 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in NuScale Power by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,427,917 shares of the company's stock valued at $151,113,000 after buying an additional 635,271 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of NuScale Power during the fourth quarter valued at about $182,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.37% of the company's stock.

NuScale Power Company Profile

NuScale Power Corporation engages in the development and sale of modular light water reactor nuclear power plants to supply energy for electrical generation, district heating, desalination, hydrogen production, and other process heat applications. It offers NuScale Power Module (NPM), a water reactor that can generate 77 megawatts of electricity (MWe); and VOYGR power plant designs for three facility sizes that are capable of housing from one to four and six or twelve NPMs.