Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) Shares Climb 5.5% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Sunrun shares rose 5.5% to $8.205 in Friday trading, though volume was 46% below the stock’s average daily level.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: 12 analysts rate the stock a Buy, eight Hold and two Sell, producing an overall “Hold” rating and an average price target of $16.70.
• Sunrun beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $0.42 versus $0.23 expected and revenue of $869.99 million, up 52.8% year over year; however, insiders sold $2.11 million of stock in the latest quarter.

Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ:RUN - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 5.5% during trading on Friday. The company traded as high as $8.22 and last traded at $8.2050. 5,017,545 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 9,342,972 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on RUN shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Sunrun from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Glj Research reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $4.63 target price on shares of Sunrun in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Sunrun from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Sunrun from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Sunrun from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $16.70.

Sunrun Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.44 and a 200 day moving average of $11.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.34, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a PE ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 2.37.

Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $869.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $746.87 million. Sunrun had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 9.59%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 52.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sunrun Inc. will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sunrun

In other news, CRO Paul Dickson sold 15,613 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.18, for a total transaction of $205,779.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 839,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,065,124.02. The trade was a 1.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Lynn Jurich sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.96, for a total value of $498,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 367,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,659,353.80. This represents a 11.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 171,015 shares of company stock valued at $2,111,653 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Sunrun

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RUN. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Sunrun by 56.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,300,626 shares of the energy company's stock worth $44,798,000 after buying an additional 1,188,564 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Sunrun during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $18,120,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Sunrun in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,210,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sunrun during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,960,000. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Sunrun during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $8,254,000. 91.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Sunrun

Sunrun Inc is a provider of residential solar energy and battery-storage solutions. The company designs, sells, installs, owns and maintains solar energy systems for homeowners, helping customers generate electricity on-site and reduce reliance on conventional utility power.

Sunrun offers solar systems through customer purchase arrangements as well as subscription-based plans, including leases and power purchase agreements. Under these arrangements, Sunrun may retain ownership of the system and provide ongoing monitoring, maintenance and customer support.

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