Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $31.78.

A number of brokerages recently commented on CSIQ. StockNews.com raised Canadian Solar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Canadian Solar from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Daiwa Capital Markets assumed coverage on Canadian Solar in a research note on Monday, March 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Canadian Solar from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Canadian Solar from $28.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th.

Canadian Solar Trading Up 8.5 %

Shares of CSIQ opened at $16.44 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 1.26. Canadian Solar has a one year low of $14.11 and a one year high of $45.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $18.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.03.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The solar energy provider reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Canadian Solar had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 3.60%. Canadian Solar’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Canadian Solar will post 2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Solar

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Canadian Solar by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,952,015 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $103,661,000 after purchasing an additional 843,100 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Canadian Solar by 137.9% during the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 3,761,422 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $92,569,000 after purchasing an additional 2,180,240 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Canadian Solar by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,964,359 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $48,343,000 after purchasing an additional 8,317 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Canadian Solar by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,575,683 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $41,330,000 after purchasing an additional 213,959 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its position in shares of Canadian Solar by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,115,502 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $27,454,000 after purchasing an additional 60,392 shares during the period. 52.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.