Zacks Research Downgrades ATS (NYSE:ATS) to Strong Sell

ATS (NYSE:ATS) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of ATS from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ATS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of ATS from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of ATS in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ATS has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.50.

ATS Stock Down 3.9%

NYSE:ATS opened at $26.46 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $31.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.90. The company has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a PE ratio of 50.88 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.36. ATS has a 1-year low of $23.84 and a 1-year high of $35.82.

ATS (NYSE:ATS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $535.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $529.43 million. ATS had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 2.40%. On average, equities analysts predict that ATS will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ATS

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in ATS by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,761,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,884,000 after acquiring an additional 117,291 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in ATS by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 7,168,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,081,000 after acquiring an additional 279,327 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in ATS by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,397,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,582,000 after acquiring an additional 55,731 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in ATS by 187.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,022,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,269,000 after acquiring an additional 1,970,040 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in ATS by 166.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,297,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,544,000 after acquiring an additional 1,435,375 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.84% of the company’s stock.

About ATS

ATS Corporation (NYSE: ATS) is a Canada-based global provider of automation and energy solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario, the company specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of custom automation and test systems, as well as fluid handling and control products. Since its founding in 1978, ATS has focused on delivering integrated hardware and software solutions that help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) improve efficiency, quality and throughput across a range of industries.

Through its Automation segment, ATS develops bespoke assembly and testing platforms for sectors such as life sciences, consumer electronics, automotive and industrial equipment.