Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC) Stock Rating Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on AMRC. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Ameresco from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Ameresco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ameresco in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ameresco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ameresco from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.71.

Ameresco Trading Down 3.8%

AMRC stock opened at $26.57 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $21.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.66. Ameresco has a fifty-two week low of $18.09 and a fifty-two week high of $37.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 2.50.

Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $580.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $572.89 million. Ameresco had a return on equity of 4.68% and a net margin of 2.01%. The business’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ameresco will post 1.30 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph Sutton purchased 9,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.87 per share, for a total transaction of $202,439.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 80,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,674,734.02. The trade was a 13.75% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Brian Cox acquired 4,625 shares of Ameresco stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $21.64 per share, for a total transaction of $100,085.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 44,325 shares in the company, valued at $959,193. The trade was a 11.65% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 29,325 shares of company stock valued at $628,664. Insiders own 45.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameresco

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMRC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Ameresco by 13.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,439,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,711,000 after acquiring an additional 167,068 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its position in shares of Ameresco by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,100,165 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $22,784,000 after purchasing an additional 101,982 shares during the period. Gagnon Securities LLC increased its stake in Ameresco by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 896,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,565,000 after purchasing an additional 69,865 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in Ameresco by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 857,979 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,680,000 after purchasing an additional 42,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Ameresco by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 225,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,754,000 after buying an additional 17,696 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.24% of the company’s stock.

Ameresco News Summary

Here’s some of the latest news about AMRC:

• Positive Sentiment: The company reported a record $7.2 billion backlog, with recurring revenue and backlog growth highlighted as support for margin gains and future growth. Q3 backlog and recurring revenue analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Canaccord and Stifel maintained Buy ratings despite modestly reducing their price targets; Cantor Fitzgerald also kept its Buy rating. Cantor Fitzgerald rating
• Negative Sentiment: Q4 revenue guidance of $625 million–$650 million has a midpoint slightly below the $639.2 million consensus estimate, and Stifel and Canaccord each lowered their price targets by $1 while retaining Buy ratings.

About Ameresco

Ameresco, Inc. is a clean-energy and energy-efficiency company that develops, designs, builds, and operates projects for public- and private-sector customers. Its clients include federal, state and local government agencies, schools, healthcare organizations, utilities, and commercial and industrial businesses. The company’s services include improving the energy performance of buildings and infrastructure, developing renewable-energy projects, and providing distributed energy systems, microgrids, energy storage, and related operations and maintenance.