Generac (NYSE:GNRC) Price Target Raised to $178.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) had its price objective upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $160.00 to $178.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on GNRC. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price target (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Generac in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Generac in a report on Monday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Generac from $129.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Generac from $142.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Generac from $147.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.45.

Generac Stock Performance

NYSE GNRC opened at $167.28 on Thursday. Generac has a 1 year low of $79.86 and a 1 year high of $176.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a PE ratio of 46.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.13.

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.15. Generac had a net margin of 6.03% and a return on equity of 15.35%. The business had revenue of $998.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Generac will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Generac news, CEO Aaron Jagdfeld sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.93, for a total value of $794,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 562,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,346,790.61. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Generac

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Generac in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $98,282,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Generac by 432.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 392,270 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,697,000 after purchasing an additional 318,664 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in Generac by 831.1% during the first quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 240,111 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,288,000 after buying an additional 214,322 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Generac by 29.2% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 457,475 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,487,000 after buying an additional 103,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Generac by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 420,121 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $55,548,000 after buying an additional 74,115 shares during the period. 84.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Generac Company Profile

Generac Holdings Inc designs, manufactures, and distributes various energy technology products and solution worldwide. The company offers residential automatic standby generators, automatic transfer switch, air-cooled engine residential standby generators, and liquid-cooled engine generators; Mobile Link, a remote monitoring system for home standby generators; residential storage solution, which consists of a system of batteries, an inverter, photovoltaic optimizers, power electronic controls, and other components; smart home solutions, such as smart thermostats and a suite of home monitoring products.