Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Friday.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho started coverage on Canadian Solar in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Citigroup cut shares of Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $19.00 to $11.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Canadian Solar from $13.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Canadian Solar in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.15 price target for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Canadian Solar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.31.

Canadian Solar Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of CSIQ opened at $10.31 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $11.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.21. Canadian Solar has a one year low of $10.09 and a one year high of $24.32.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The solar energy provider reported ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Canadian Solar had a return on equity of 0.02% and a net margin of 0.01%. Canadian Solar’s revenue was down 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Canadian Solar will post -0.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Canadian Solar

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CSIQ. Shah Capital Management increased its position in shares of Canadian Solar by 825.6% during the fourth quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 1,745,546 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $19,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,556,964 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Canadian Solar by 131.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 428,733 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $7,186,000 after purchasing an additional 243,542 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 494.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 115,328 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after buying an additional 95,924 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Canadian Solar during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,109,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 101.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 113,461 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $1,902,000 after buying an additional 57,246 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.36% of the company’s stock.

About Canadian Solar

Canadian Solar Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides solar energy and battery energy storage products and solutions in in Asia, the Americas, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, CSI Solar and Recurrent Energy. The CSI Solar segment designs, develops, and manufactures solar ingots, wafers, cells, modules, and other solar power and battery storage products.