Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc (NASDAQ:AY) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc (NASDAQ:AY) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.67.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $25.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 5th.

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure Price Performance

NASDAQ AY opened at $18.48 on Friday. Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure has a fifty-two week low of $16.35 and a fifty-two week high of $29.81. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $18.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.00 and a beta of 0.97.

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure (NASDAQ:AY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by $0.25. The company had revenue of $241.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.81 million. Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure had a return on equity of 2.91% and a net margin of 4.43%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 423.82%.

Institutional Trading of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 63.6% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 10,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 122.2% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Insight Folios Inc raised its position in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 23,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $494,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 0.3% in the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 181,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,858,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the last quarter. 40.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure Company Profile

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc owns, manages, and invests in renewable energy, storage, natural gas and heat, electric transmission lines, and water assets in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company was formerly known as Atlantica Yield plc and changed its name to Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc in May 2020.