Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) Raised to "Strong-Buy" at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Sunrun has been upgraded to a "strong-buy" rating by Zacks Research, indicating increasing confidence from analysts in the company's future performance.
• Shares of Sunrun are currently trading at $16.47, reflecting an increase of 2.7% during midday trading.
• Sunrun's earnings report showed an EPS of $1.07 for the quarter, exceeding expectations and marking an 8.7% revenue growth compared to the same quarter last year.

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday, September 8th,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Sunrun from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Sunrun from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, July 7th. KeyCorp upgraded Sunrun from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Sunrun in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Sunrun from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $14.81.

Sunrun Stock Performance

NASDAQ:RUN traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $16.76. The company had a trading volume of 4,959,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,644,299. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.44 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $12.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.41. Sunrun has a 52 week low of $5.38 and a 52 week high of $21.77.

Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The energy company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $1.25. The firm had revenue of $569.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $555.42 million. Sunrun had a positive return on equity of 14.19% and a negative net margin of 120.59%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Sunrun will post -0.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Alan Ferber sold 10,927 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.24, for a total transaction of $122,819.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 54,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $617,604.28. This represents a 16.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Paul S. Dickson sold 8,010 shares of Sunrun stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.81, for a total transaction of $86,588.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 679,044 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,340,465.64. This represents a 1.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 80,136 shares of company stock worth $1,076,538 in the last quarter. 3.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sunrun

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Sunrun by 181.0% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,130 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 2,660 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Sunrun by 960.0% in the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 5,300 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 4,800 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Sunrun by 87.1% in the second quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,800 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Sunrun in the first quarter worth $60,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Sunrun by 107.6% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 5,342 shares in the last quarter. 91.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Sunrun

Sunrun Inc designs, develops, installs, sells, owns, and maintains residential solar energy systems in the United States. It also sells solar energy systems and products, such as panels and racking; and solar leads generated to customers. In addition, the company offers battery storage along with solar energy systems; and sells services to commercial developers through multi-family and new homes.