Zacks Research Downgrades Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) to Hold

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded Sunrun from strong-buy to hold, adding to a mixed analyst picture that now includes several recent cuts and a consensus rating of Hold.
• Despite the downgrade, Sunrun recently reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.62 versus expectations for a loss and revenue of $722.23 million, topping estimates.
• Investor activity has been notable: insiders sold shares over the past three months, while institutional investors remain heavily involved, owning about 91.69% of the company.

Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on RUN. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Sunrun from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered Sunrun from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Freedom Capital lowered Sunrun from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings lowered Sunrun from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Sunrun from $23.00 to $14.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $18.48.

Sunrun Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RUN opened at $14.85 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $13.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.44, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.97 and a beta of 2.32. Sunrun has a 1 year low of $5.38 and a 1 year high of $22.44.

Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.67. The firm had revenue of $722.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.50 million. Sunrun had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 17.88%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 43.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Sunrun will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mary Powell sold 193,002 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.25, for a total value of $2,557,276.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 934,282 shares in the company, valued at $12,379,236.50. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Jeanna Steele sold 76,478 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.25, for a total value of $1,013,333.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 384,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,095,128.50. The trade was a 16.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 698,868 shares of company stock valued at $9,412,016. 3.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sunrun

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sunrun by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,193,170 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $418,300,000 after purchasing an additional 288,945 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Sunrun by 2.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,519,053 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $88,375,000 after purchasing an additional 165,196 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Sunrun by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,868,199 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $107,975,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,628 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sunrun by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,663,239 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $104,220,000 after purchasing an additional 205,627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Contour Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sunrun in the fourth quarter valued at $98,010,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.69% of the company's stock.

About Sunrun

Sunrun, Inc NASDAQ: RUN is a leading provider of residential solar energy systems in the United States. The company designs, installs and maintains rooftop solar panels and battery storage solutions for homeowners under flexible financing arrangements. Customers can choose from leasing, power purchase agreements or solar ownership models, all of which are supported by Sunrun's network of installation partners and service technicians. Sunrun also offers integrated home energy management services, including its Brightbox battery storage product, which enables customers to store solar energy for use during peak hours or power outages.

Founded in 2007 by Lynn Jurich, Ed Fenster and Nat Kreamer, Sunrun is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

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.