ATS (NYSE:ATS) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

ATS (NYSE:ATS) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on ATS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of ATS in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on ATS from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of 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 research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of ATS in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ATS presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.00.

ATS Stock Up 1.8%

ATS stock opened at $29.85 on Friday. ATS has a 1-year low of $20.90 and a 1-year high of $32.73. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 199.01 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ATS

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ATS. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its position in ATS by 28.2% during the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 6,434,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,330,000 after buying an additional 1,416,009 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in ATS by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,397,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,582,000 after purchasing an additional 55,731 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of ATS by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,369,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,603,000 after buying an additional 392,874 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in ATS by 2.5% in the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,812,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,687,000 after purchasing an additional 43,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in ATS by 17.5% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,410,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,023,000 after buying an additional 210,570 shares during the period. 75.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.