Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) Shares Down 6.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Stratasys stock fell by 6.1% after Needham & Company downgraded their price target from $15.00 to $13.00, although they maintain a buy rating.
• In a contrasting move, Wall Street Zen upgraded Stratasys from a "hold" to a "buy" rating, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $12.20.
• Institutional investors own approximately 75.77% of Stratasys, with several hedge funds recently increasing their stakes in the company.

Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS - Get Free Report) dropped 6.1% during trading on Thursday after Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The company traded as low as $9.38 and last traded at $9.40. Approximately 470,788 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 533,808 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.01.

Separately, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Stratasys from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Stratasys presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $12.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SSYS. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Stratasys by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 941,407 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,369,000 after purchasing an additional 5,541 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Stratasys by 44.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 563,832 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,012,000 after acquiring an additional 172,218 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Stratasys during the 4th quarter worth $331,000. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Stratasys by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 280,237 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,491,000 after acquiring an additional 27,200 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in shares of Stratasys by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 191,461 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,702,000 after acquiring an additional 48,157 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.77% of the company's stock.

Stratasys Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $798.25 million, a P/E ratio of -7.01 and a beta of 1.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $10.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.52.

Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.03. The firm had revenue of $138.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $137.15 million. Stratasys had a negative return on equity of 1.06% and a negative net margin of 17.42%. The company's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.04) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Stratasys, Ltd. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Stratasys

Stratasys Ltd. provides connected polymer-based 3D printing solutions. It offers range of 3D printing systems, which includes polyjet printer, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers, stereolithography printing systems, origin P3 printers, and selective absorption fusion printer for additive manufacturing, and tooling and rapid prototyping for various vertical markets, such as automotive, aerospace, consumer products and healthcare.