Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Nextpower Inc. (NASDAQ:NXT)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $102.00 to $108.00. The stock had previously closed at $100.32, but opened at $105.58. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Nextpower shares last traded at $105.02, with a volume of 351,316 shares trading hands.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Nextpower to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Northland Securities set a $111.00 target price on shares of Nextpower in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Nextpower from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nextpower from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on shares of Nextpower in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William D. Watkins sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.85, for a total transaction of $918,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,540,967.45. This represents a 37.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel S. Shugar sold 47,743 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.28, for a total value of $4,357,981.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 624,882 shares in the company, valued at $57,039,228.96. This represents a 7.10% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 91,468 shares of company stock worth $8,246,979 in the last ninety days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Nextpower in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $140,772,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nextpower in the third quarter valued at $108,739,000. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Nextpower by 156.1% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 2,111,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,600,000 after buying an additional 1,287,071 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in shares of Nextpower by 938.0% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 794,538 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,788,000 after buying an additional 717,991 shares during the period. Finally, Electron Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nextpower by 2,017.7% during the third quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 566,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,909,000 after buying an additional 539,668 shares in the last quarter. 67.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nextpower Stock Up 4.8%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $91.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 2.38.

Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.21. Nextpower had a net margin of 17.08% and a return on equity of 35.05%. The firm had revenue of $905.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $839.53 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nextpower Inc. will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

Nextpower Company Profile

Nextpower, formerly known as Nextracker, is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol NXT and is a leading provider of advanced solar tracking solutions for utility-scale and distributed energy projects. The company specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of single-axis tracker systems that optimize the capture of solar energy by following the sun’s trajectory throughout the day. Nextpower’s core hardware offerings aim to enhance energy yield, reduce balance-of-system costs and simplify installation and maintenance for downstream solar developers and operators.

In addition to its tracker hardware, Nextpower provides a suite of digital software and analytics tools to maximize asset performance.