Wall Street Zen Downgrades Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) to Hold

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) from a "buy" to a "hold" in a note to investors on Monday.
• Despite the downgrade, the consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target price of $117.47 and several firms maintaining buy ratings (Goldman Sachs set a $140 target).
• Nextpower beat expectations for the quarter (EPS $1.10 vs. $0.93; revenue $909.35M vs. $812.43M) and shows strong margins, but insiders sold about 104,348 shares (~$10.9M) last quarter.

Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Monday.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Nextpower from $88.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Nextpower from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $140.00 target price on shares of Nextpower and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Nextpower from $122.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Nextpower in a report on Friday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nextpower currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $117.47.

Nextpower Price Performance

Nextpower stock opened at $121.41 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 2.02. Nextpower has a twelve month low of $37.16 and a twelve month high of $131.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $114.59 and a 200-day moving average of $102.96.

Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.17. Nextpower had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 32.01%. The company had revenue of $909.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $812.43 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Nextpower will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nextpower news, Director William D. Watkins sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.57, for a total value of $592,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,777 shares in the company, valued at $1,396,398.89. This trade represents a 29.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Daniel S. Shugar sold 59,456 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.17, for a total transaction of $6,252,987.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 746,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $78,492,472.63. This represents a 7.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 104,348 shares of company stock valued at $10,876,525. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Nextpower

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NXT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Nextpower in the fourth quarter valued at $170,918,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Nextpower in the third quarter valued at about $108,739,000. Amundi raised its position in shares of Nextpower by 156.1% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 2,111,628 shares of the company's stock valued at $161,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287,071 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Nextpower by 938.0% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 794,538 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,788,000 after purchasing an additional 717,991 shares during the period. Finally, Electron Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Nextpower by 2,017.7% in the third quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 566,415 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,909,000 after purchasing an additional 539,668 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.41% of the company's stock.

Nextpower Company Profile

Nextpower, formerly known as Nextracker, is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol NXT and is a leading provider of advanced solar tracking solutions for utility-scale and distributed energy projects. The company specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of single-axis tracker systems that optimize the capture of solar energy by following the sun’s trajectory throughout the day. Nextpower’s core hardware offerings aim to enhance energy yield, reduce balance-of-system costs and simplify installation and maintenance for downstream solar developers and operators.

In addition to its tracker hardware, Nextpower provides a suite of digital software and analytics tools to maximize asset performance.

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