Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) shares gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $13.00 to $10.00. The stock had previously closed at $13.29, but opened at $12.77. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Canadian Solar shares last traded at $12.93, with a volume of 194,956 shares traded.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $11.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Canadian Solar in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.15 price objective for the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on Canadian Solar in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup lowered Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $11.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Canadian Solar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.31.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSIQ. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Canadian Solar by 25.4% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 5,115,665 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $75,456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037,800 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 131.5% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 428,733 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $7,186,000 after purchasing an additional 243,542 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Canadian Solar by 494.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 115,328 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 95,924 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Canadian Solar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,109,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Canadian Solar by 101.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 113,461 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after buying an additional 57,246 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.36% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Solar Trading Down 4.1 %

The company has a fifty day moving average of $12.30 and a 200-day moving average of $13.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $842.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -106.17, a PEG ratio of 8.89 and a beta of 1.27.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The solar energy provider reported ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.13. Canadian Solar had a return on equity of 0.02% and a net margin of 0.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Canadian Solar Inc. will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Solar Company Profile

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.