Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ: PLUG) stock fell -4.31% on Friday to $4.00 against a previous-day closing price of $4.18. With 42.61 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 26.57 million shares. During the session, the Electrical Equipment & Parts company that operates in wider Industrials sector, reached to the highest price of $4.1700 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $3.8600. The 52-week range on PLUG shows that it touched its highest point at $18.88 and its lowest point at $3.22 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $9.27. Beta for the stock currently stands at 1.80.
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 13.31%, but this was down by -39.02% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -54.75% while six-month performance fell -48.25%. The stock lost -76.06% in the past year, while it has lost -67.66% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for PLUG yields -1.60 with Next year EPS estimates of -0.87. For the next quarter, that number is -0.31. This implies an EPS growth rate of -20.18% for this year and 42.27% for next year.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 590.35 million PLUG shares are outstanding with a float of 539.08 million shares on hand for trading. On Oct 30, 2023, short shares totaled 144.63 million, which was 24.03% higher than short shares on Sep 28, 2023. In addition to Mr. Andrew J. Marsh as the firm’s President, CEO & Director, Mr. Paul B. Middleton CPA serves as its Executive 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 35.53% of PLUG, in contrast to 20.07% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 1.26%. As the largest shareholder in PLUG with 8.80% of the stake, The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds 52,944,622 shares worth 52,944,622. A second-largest stockholder of PLUG, BlackRock Fund Advisors, holds 30,160,060 shares, controlling over 5.01% of the firm’s shares. BNP Paribas Asset Management UK L is the third largest shareholder in PLUG, holding 21,700,937 shares or 3.61% stake. With a 3.41% stake in PLUG, the BNP Paribas Funds – Energy Transi is the largest stakeholder. A total of 20,539,115 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, which owns about 3.13% of PLUG stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 18,817,049 shares valued at 110.83 million. Government Pension Fund – Global holds 2.81% of the stake in PLUG, owning 16,937,314 shares worth 99.76 million.
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 $25.00 and a low target of $3.50, the average target price over the next 12 months is $9.27. Based on these targets, PLUG could surge 525.0% to reach the target high and fall by -12.5% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 131.75% from current levels.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded PLUG stock several times over the past three months with 8 Buys and 9 Sells. In these transactions, 113,662 shares were bought while 284,592 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 39 while that of sell transactions has risen to 11 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 262,290 while 334,560 shares were sold.
