Generac (NYSE:GNRC) Trading 7.2% Higher After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNRC)’s stock price rose 7.2% on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $152.31 and last traded at $152.00. Approximately 756,609 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 1% from the average daily volume of 766,264 shares. The stock had previously closed at $141.74.

The technology company reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.49 by $0.31. Generac had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 7.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GNRC has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Generac from $193.00 to $168.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup lowered their target price on Generac from $172.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Generac from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Barclays assumed coverage on Generac in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $189.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Generac from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Generac currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Generac news, CEO Aaron Jagdfeld sold 5,000 shares of Generac stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.15, for a total value of $725,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 565,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,129,498.75. This trade represents a 0.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Generac

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GNRC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Generac during the 4th quarter worth about $90,913,000. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Generac by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,903,297 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $295,123,000 after buying an additional 533,612 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Generac by 81.9% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,042,785 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $161,684,000 after buying an additional 469,575 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Generac by 133.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 672,213 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,227,000 after buying an additional 384,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forest Avenue Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Generac during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,313,000. 84.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Generac Stock Down 3.8 %

The business’s fifty day moving average is $157.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.69. The company has a market cap of $8.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 2.03.

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.