Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) Shares Up 5% – Should You Buy?

Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG)’s share price shot up 5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $2.52 and last traded at $2.50. 9,913,295 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 43,404,309 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.38.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Craig Hallum lowered their price objective on shares of Plug Power from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on Plug Power from $2.50 to $2.25 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. BTIG Research downgraded Plug Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Plug Power from $5.00 to $4.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Plug Power from $2.20 to $2.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Plug Power has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.52.

Plug Power Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.11 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $2.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.25.

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The electronics maker reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $173.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.25 million. Plug Power had a negative return on equity of 46.99% and a negative net margin of 214.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.47) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Plug Power Inc. will post -1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plug Power

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PLUG. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Plug Power by 23.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,194,629 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $43,388,000 after purchasing an additional 3,662,456 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Plug Power by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,637,039 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $15,000,000 after buying an additional 1,354,500 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Plug Power by 44.3% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 3,426,354 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $7,744,000 after buying an additional 1,051,400 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Plug Power by 69.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,530,346 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,896,000 after acquiring an additional 1,036,777 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Plug Power in the third quarter valued at about $2,174,000. 43.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Plug Power Company Profile

Plug Power Inc develops hydrogen and fuel cell product solutions in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers GenDrive, a hydrogen-fueled proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system that provides power to material handling electric vehicles; GenSure, a stationary fuel cell solution that offers modular PEM fuel cell power to support the backup and grid-support power requirements of the telecommunications, transportation, and utility sectors; ProGen, a fuel cell stack and engine technology used in mobility and stationary fuel cell systems, and as engines in electric delivery vans; GenFuel, a liquid hydrogen fueling delivery, generation, storage, and dispensing system; GenCare, an ongoing Internet of Things-based maintenance and on-site service program for GenDrive fuel cell systems, GenSure fuel cell systems, GenFuel hydrogen storage and dispensing products, and ProGen fuel cell engines; and GenKey, an integrated turn-key solution for transitioning to fuel cell power.