Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume on Analyst Upgrade

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) saw an uptick in trading volume on Thursday after Craig Hallum raised their price target on the stock from $12.00 to $15.00. Craig Hallum currently has a buy rating on the stock. 348,631 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 30% from the previous session’s volume of 500,111 shares.The stock last traded at $9.70 and had previously closed at $10.11.

Several other research analysts have also commented on SSYS. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Stratasys in a research report on Monday, September 2nd. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Lake Street Capital lowered their price target on Stratasys from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Stratasys from $23.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Stratasys from $9.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Stratasys from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.40.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SSYS. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Stratasys in the first quarter valued at $61,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in Stratasys by 4.0% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 48,659 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $565,000 after buying an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in Stratasys by 6.7% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 177,037 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,057,000 after buying an additional 11,090 shares in the last quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. raised its stake in Stratasys by 17.4% in the first quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. now owns 122,204 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after buying an additional 18,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Stratasys in the first quarter valued at $598,000. 75.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stratasys Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $685.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.00 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.20.

Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The technology company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.01. Stratasys had a negative return on equity of 3.29% and a negative net margin of 18.98%. The company had revenue of $138.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.38 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Stratasys’s quarterly revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Stratasys Ltd. will post -0.44 EPS for the current year.

Stratasys Company Profile

Stratasys Ltd. provides connected polymer-based 3D printing solutions. It offers range of 3D printing systems, which includes polyjet printer, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers, stereolithography printing systems, origin P3 printers, and selective absorption fusion printer for additive manufacturing, and tooling and rapid prototyping for various vertical markets, such as automotive, aerospace, consumer products and healthcare.