Generac (NYSE:GNRC) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNRC) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $176.21 and last traded at $176.00, with a volume of 167368 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.74.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GNRC shares. Northland Securities increased their price objective on Generac from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Generac from $172.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Generac from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Generac from $128.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Generac from $148.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.10.

Generac Trading Up 5.0 %

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $157.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $148.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.37.

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.27. Generac had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Generac Holdings Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Generac

In other news, CEO Aaron Jagdfeld sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.60, for a total value of $833,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 557,177 shares in the company, valued at $92,825,688.20. This represents a 0.00 % 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. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Generac

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GNRC. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Generac by 2.4% in the second quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 2,932 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in shares of Generac by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 1,748 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Generac by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 22,549 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,981,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Generac by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 213 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Generac by 6.5% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,528 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 84.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Generac

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.