Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG) stock fell -2.41% on Friday to $8.52 against a previous-day closing price of $8.73. With 20.22 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained lighter than its average volume of 21.86 million shares. During the session, the Electrical Equipment & Parts company that operates in wider Industrials sector, reached to the highest price of $8.78 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $8.44. The 52-week range on PLUG shows that it touched its highest point at $30.43 and its lowest point at $7.39 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $17.93. Beta for the stock currently stands at 1.89.
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Price Performance and Earnings:
Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of PLUG was up-trending over the past week, with a rise of 7.04%, but this was down by -0.70% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -21.26% while six-month performance fell -27.80%. The stock lost -71.21% in the past year, while it has lost -31.12% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for PLUG yields -1.42 with Next year EPS estimates of -0.52. For the next quarter, that number is -0.29. This implies an EPS growth rate of -51.60% for this year and 57.40% for next year.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 598.05 million PLUG shares are outstanding with a float of 541.82 million shares on hand for trading. On Aug 30, 2023, short shares totaled 120.69 million, which was 20.05% higher than short shares on Jul 30, 2023. In addition to Mr. Andrew J. Marsh as the firm’s Pres, CEO & Director, Mr. Paul B. Middleton CPA serves as its Exec. VP & CFO.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 56.38% of PLUG’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 35.11% of PLUG, in contrast to 19.83% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 1.27%. As the largest shareholder in PLUG with 8.84% of the stake, The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds 53,222,577 shares worth 53,222,577. A second-largest stockholder of PLUG, BlackRock Fund Advisors, holds 31,084,846 shares, controlling over 5.16% of the firm’s shares. BNP Paribas Asset Management UK L is the third largest shareholder in PLUG, holding 22,040,890 shares or 3.66% stake. With a 3.14% stake in PLUG, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF is the largest stakeholder. A total of 18,872,331 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The BNP Paribas Funds – Energy Transi, which owns about 3.13% of PLUG stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 18,842,887 shares valued at 159.41 million. Government Pension Fund – Global holds 2.81% of the stake in PLUG, owning 16,937,314 shares worth 143.29 million.
An Overview of Recent Financials:
Understanding a company as a customer does not mean you will understand it as an investor. The wise investor uses quantitative research to analyze metrics such as revenue, net income, and earnings. In its fiscal quarter reported on Jun 29, 2023, PLUG reported revenue of $151.27M and operating income of -$151.97M. The EBITDA in the recently reported quarter was -$139.24M and diluted EPS was -$0.30.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for PLUG since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With PLUG analysts setting a high price target of $78.00 and a low target of $7.50, the average target price over the next 12 months is $17.56. Based on these targets, PLUG could surge 815.49% to reach the target high and fall by -11.97% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 106.1% from current levels.
EPS: Estimates vs Actual
It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded PLUG stock several times over the past three months with 15 Buys and 0 Sells. In these transactions, 130,708 shares were bought while 0 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 41 while that of sell transactions has risen to 11 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 287,970 while 330,014 shares were sold.
