Velodyne Lidar (NASDAQ:VLDR) Lowered to Sell at Zacks Investment Research

Velodyne Lidar (NASDAQ:VLDR – Get Rating) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

According to Zacks, “Velodyne Lidar Inc. is a lidar technology providing real-time 3D vision for autonomous systems. Velodyne Lidar Inc., formerly known as Graf Industrial Corp., is based in HOUSTON. “

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Velodyne Lidar from $7.50 to $5.90 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 1st. Craig Hallum downgraded Velodyne Lidar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $3.50 to $2.50 in a research report on Tuesday, March 1st. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Velodyne Lidar from $3.50 to $2.00 and set a “na” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.57.

VLDR stock traded down $0.08 on Wednesday, reaching $1.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 57,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,442,533. Velodyne Lidar has a 52 week low of $1.42 and a 52 week high of $12.79. The company has a market capitalization of $346.25 million, a P/E ratio of -1.46 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $2.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.82.

Velodyne Lidar (NASDAQ:VLDR – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.02). Velodyne Lidar had a negative return on equity of 73.29% and a negative net margin of 440.65%. The business had revenue of $6.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.10 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.20) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 65.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Velodyne Lidar will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In related news, Director Virginia Boulet purchased 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $1.63 per share, with a total value of $65,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 102,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $166,260. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ernest E. Maddock purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $2.64 per share, for a total transaction of $26,400.00. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 135,000 shares of company stock valued at $275,400 and have sold 25,769,939 shares valued at $59,463,022. 13.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Delphia USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Velodyne Lidar in the first quarter worth $29,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Velodyne Lidar in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. QCM Cayman Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Velodyne Lidar in the first quarter worth $36,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of Velodyne Lidar by 67.3% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 9,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 3,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Velodyne Lidar during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. 29.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Velodyne Lidar (Get Rating)

Velodyne Lidar, Inc provides real-time 3D vision for autonomous systems worldwide. It offers surround-view lidar for autonomous vehicles, drones, security, mobile robots, and mapping applications; and solid state lidar for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous applications. The company also provides Vella Development Kit that provides access to lidar-based perception software paired with sensors; Intelligent Infrastructure Solution for monitoring traffic networks and public spaces to generate real-time data analytics and predictions for enhancing traffic and crowd flow efficiency; and Vella software solution, a data curation software platform.

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