Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN) from a strong sell rating to a sell rating in a report published on Sunday.

CWEN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Clearway Energy from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Clearway Energy in a research report on Monday, July 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Clearway Energy in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Clearway Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Clearway Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.00.

Clearway Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CWEN opened at $34.53 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. Clearway Energy has a 52 week low of $27.67 and a 52 week high of $41.74. The stock has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.43 and a beta of 0.89.

Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $481.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $473.92 million. Clearway Energy had a return on equity of 1.60% and a net margin of 5.78%. On average, analysts expect that Clearway Energy will post -0.67 EPS for the current year.

Clearway Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. This is a boost from Clearway Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. Clearway Energy’s payout ratio is presently 250.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWEN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Clearway Energy by 12.0% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 35,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,070,000 after buying an additional 3,787 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Clearway Energy during the second quarter valued at $215,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Clearway Energy by 1.8% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 68,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Clearway Energy by 233.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 45,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after acquiring an additional 32,144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Clearway Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,352,000. 84.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Clearway Energy

Clearway Energy Group (NYSE: CWEN) is a U.S.-based energy company specializing in the ownership, operation and development of clean and conventional power generation assets. The company’s portfolio spans utility-scale wind and solar farms, biogas and natural gas-fired thermal facilities, as well as distributed generation projects such as rooftop solar and energy storage. Clearway’s generation assets are largely underpinned by long-term power purchase agreements and service contracts with creditworthy counterparties, enabling stable, predictable cash flows.

Originally launched in 2013 as NRG Yield and rebranded to Clearway Energy in 2018 following a strategic sponsorship change, the business has grown into one of the largest independent renewable energy platforms in the United States.