First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) Stock Holdings Increased by Macquarie Group Ltd.

Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its holdings in First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,712 shares of the solar cell manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,076 shares during the quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd.’s holdings in First Solar were worth $5,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FSLR. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Solar by 2.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,656,540 shares of the solar cell manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,970,297,000 after acquiring an additional 308,610 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Solar by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,171,019 shares of the solar cell manufacturer’s stock valued at $767,981,000 after acquiring an additional 68,131 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Solar by 77.9% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,786,315 shares of the solar cell manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,041,024,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,612 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of First Solar by 4.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,266,552 shares of the solar cell manufacturer’s stock valued at $927,972,000 after acquiring an additional 179,035 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Solar by 2.6% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,236,723 shares of the solar cell manufacturer’s stock valued at $485,528,000 after acquiring an additional 56,383 shares during the period. 82.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on FSLR shares. 51job reiterated a “maintains” rating on shares of First Solar in a research note on Monday, June 26th. TheStreet upgraded shares of First Solar from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of First Solar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, September 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of First Solar from $229.00 to $246.00 in a research note on Friday, September 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of First Solar from $189.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.62.

First Solar Price Performance

NASDAQ FSLR opened at $174.05 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 3.36, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. First Solar, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $232.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $190.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.92. The company has a market cap of $18.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 119.21 and a beta of 1.40.

First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The solar cell manufacturer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.90. First Solar had a net margin of 5.23% and a return on equity of 3.13%. The firm had revenue of $810.67 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $720.43 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that First Solar, Inc. will post 7.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Solar

In other First Solar news, CFO Alexander R. Bradley sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $1,068,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,953,016.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Alexander R. Bradley sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $1,068,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,953,016.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kuntal Kumar Verma sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.52, for a total transaction of $562,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,242 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $607,939.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,452 shares of company stock valued at $6,833,334 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

About First Solar

First Solar, Inc provides photovoltaic (PV) solar energy solutions in the United State, Japan, France, Canada, India, Australia, and internationally. The company designs, manufactures, and sells cadmium telluride solar modules that converts sunlight into electricity. It serves developers and operators of systems, utilities, independent power producers, commercial and industrial companies, and other system owners.