Royal Bank of Canada Cuts First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) Price Target to $251.00

First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) had its price objective decreased by Royal Bank of Canada from $280.00 to $251.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the solar cell manufacturer’s stock.

FSLR has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup decreased their price objective on First Solar from $254.00 to $236.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of First Solar from $246.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of First Solar from $240.00 to $209.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Solar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of First Solar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.00.

First Solar Price Performance

Shares of FSLR opened at $156.84 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. First Solar has a fifty-two week low of $144.28 and a fifty-two week high of $306.77. The company has a market cap of $16.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.51, a PEG ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $174.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $199.08.

First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The solar cell manufacturer reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.81 by ($1.16). The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. First Solar had a return on equity of 17.56% and a net margin of 32.41%. On average, research analysts forecast that First Solar will post 13.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of First Solar

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in First Solar by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,821,701 shares of the solar cell manufacturer’s stock worth $2,259,697,000 after purchasing an additional 120,289 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of First Solar by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,956,633 shares of the solar cell manufacturer’s stock worth $1,236,383,000 after buying an additional 108,984 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Solar by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,666,242 shares of the solar cell manufacturer’s stock worth $469,154,000 after buying an additional 63,739 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in First Solar by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,359,846 shares of the solar cell manufacturer’s stock valued at $415,899,000 after acquiring an additional 262,482 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in First Solar by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,835,056 shares of the solar cell manufacturer’s stock valued at $323,410,000 after acquiring an additional 223,933 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.08% of the company’s stock.

First Solar Company Profile

First Solar, Inc, a solar technology company, provides photovoltaic (PV) solar energy solutions in the United States, France, Japan, Chile, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells PV solar modules with a thin film semiconductor technology that provides a lower-carbon alternative to conventional crystalline silicon PV solar modules.