Vicor (NASDAQ:VICR) Lowered to "Hold" Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Vicor from a Buy to a Hold, though the firm still sits within a broader analyst backdrop that has a consensus Buy rating and a $198.33 average target (Needham raised its target to $260; Roth $245).
• Vicor posted a quarterly beat (EPS $0.44 vs $0.40; revenue $112.97M, up 20.2% year-over-year) and the stock is trading near its 52-week high (opened $273.53) with a $12.4B market cap and a high P/E (~91.5).
• Company insiders sold heavily this quarter—including CEO Patrizio Vinciarelli's 40,000-share sale (~$7.9M)—with insiders offloading about 665,663 shares (~$122.3M) while still owning 31.3% of the stock.

Vicor (NASDAQ:VICR - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Saturday.

VICR has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Vicor in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of Vicor from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Vicor from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Vicor in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vicor has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $198.33.

Vicor Stock Up 5.2%

VICR opened at $273.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.48 and a beta of 1.97. Vicor has a 52-week low of $38.92 and a 52-week high of $293.95. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $185.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.65.

Vicor (NASDAQ:VICR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The electronics maker reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $112.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.05 million. Vicor had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 20.21%. The company's revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Vicor will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vicor

In other news, insider Michael Mcnamara sold 7,174 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.07, for a total value of $1,363,562.18. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,138 shares in the company, valued at $3,447,489.66. This represents a 28.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Patrizio Vinciarelli sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.64, for a total transaction of $7,905,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,855,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,750,119,987.60. This trade represents a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 665,663 shares of company stock valued at $122,253,776 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 31.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vicor

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vicor in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Vicor by 1,814.3% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 268 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vicor in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Vicor by 960.0% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 318 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Vicor by 32,400.0% in the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 325 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. 47.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Vicor

Vicor Corporation is a designer and manufacturer of modular power components and systems, serving a wide range of industries that demand high performance and efficiency. Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, the company develops power conversion solutions that help customers optimize energy delivery in applications from telecommunications and data centers to industrial and automotive systems.

The company's product portfolio includes high-density DC-DC converters, AC-DC front-end modules, point-of-load regulators and complete power systems that combine multiple conversion stages in a single package.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.