Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in ATS Corporation $ATS

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of ATS Corporation (NYSE:ATS) by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 874,140 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,700 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.89% of ATS worth $22,874,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aviso Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of ATS by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 50,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ATS by 11.9% in the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 984 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in ATS by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ATS in the second quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of ATS by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 30,538 shares of the company’s stock worth $770,000 after acquiring an additional 1,562 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ATS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on ATS from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Zacks Research upgraded ATS from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of ATS in a report on Monday, January 26th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of ATS in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ATS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.00.

ATS Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ATS opened at $29.85 on Friday. ATS Corporation has a 1 year low of $20.90 and a 1 year high of $32.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.65. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $28.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.72. The company has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 199.01 and a beta of 1.21.

ATS (NYSE:ATS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $553.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $722.96 million. ATS had a net margin of 0.77% and a return on equity of 9.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that ATS Corporation will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

About ATS

ATS Corporation (NYSE: ATS) is a Canada-based global provider of automation and energy solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario, the company specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of custom automation and test systems, as well as fluid handling and control products. Since its founding in 1978, ATS has focused on delivering integrated hardware and software solutions that help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) improve efficiency, quality and throughput across a range of industries.

Through its Automation segment, ATS develops bespoke assembly and testing platforms for sectors such as life sciences, consumer electronics, automotive and industrial equipment.