Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC) Stock Rating Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on AMRC. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ameresco in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Ameresco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ameresco from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on Ameresco from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ameresco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.71.

Ameresco Stock Performance

NYSE:AMRC opened at $26.57 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $21.65 and its 200-day moving average is $26.14. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.96, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.65. Ameresco has a 52-week low of $18.09 and a 52-week high of $37.14.

Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.31. Ameresco had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 4.68%. The business had revenue of $580.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $572.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ameresco will post 1.30 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph Sutton bought 9,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.87 per share, for a total transaction of $202,439.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 80,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,674,734.02. This represents a 13.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Sakellaris purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.91 per share, for a total transaction of $104,550.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,000,597 shares in the company, valued at $20,922,483.27. This represents a 0.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 29,325 shares of company stock valued at $628,664. 45.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameresco by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 20,868 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 832 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Ameresco by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 97,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,497,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its holdings in Ameresco by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 13,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 940 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ameresco by 458.8% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new position in Ameresco during the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. 99.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ameresco News Summary

Investors following AMRC have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results beat expectations: EPS was $0.88 versus $0.57 expected, while revenue rose 10.3% year over year to $580.3 million, topping estimates.
• Positive Sentiment: Canaccord and Stifel maintained Buy ratings despite modestly reducing their price targets; Cantor Fitzgerald also kept its Buy rating. Cantor Fitzgerald rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Ameresco expects to take 12–18 months to convert five data-center projects into contracted backlog, offering potential upside but not yet representing secured work. Data-center project timeline

About Ameresco

Ameresco, Inc. is a clean-energy and energy-efficiency company that develops, designs, builds, and operates projects for public- and private-sector customers. Its clients include federal, state and local government agencies, schools, healthcare organizations, utilities, and commercial and industrial businesses. The company’s services include improving the energy performance of buildings and infrastructure, developing renewable-energy projects, and providing distributed energy systems, microgrids, energy storage, and related operations and maintenance.