StockNews.com Upgrades Quad/Graphics (NYSE:QUAD) to “Strong-Buy”

Quad/Graphics (NYSE:QUAD) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

QUAD has been the topic of several other research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $10.30 price objective on shares of Quad/Graphics in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Quad/Graphics in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Quad/Graphics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE QUAD opened at $5.50 on Thursday. Quad/Graphics has a 1 year low of $4.06 and a 1 year high of $9.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.35, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company’s 50-day moving average is $6.48 and its 200 day moving average is $6.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $287.65 million, a P/E ratio of -5.04 and a beta of 1.76.

Quad/Graphics (NYSE:QUAD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.02). Quad/Graphics had a negative net margin of 1.90% and a positive return on equity of 58.44%. The company had revenue of $708.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $726.70 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Quad/Graphics will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Miller Value Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quad/Graphics by 33.7% in the fourth quarter. Miller Value Partners LLC now owns 2,518,130 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,551,000 after buying an additional 634,315 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quad/Graphics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 679,717 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,739,000 after buying an additional 10,681 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Quad/Graphics by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 539,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,447,000 after buying an additional 10,431 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Quad/Graphics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,091,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quad/Graphics by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 293,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,048,000 after buying an additional 14,275 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 39.52% of the company’s stock.

About Quad/Graphics

Quad/Graphics, Inc provides marketing solutions worldwide. The company operates through United States Print and Related Services, and International segments. It offers printing services, such as retail inserts, publications, catalogs, special interest publications, journals, direct mail, directories, in-store marketing and promotion, packaging, newspapers, custom print products, and other commercial and specialty printed products; and paper procurement services.