Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) Trading 0.3% Higher – Should You Buy?

Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG)’s share price was up 0.3% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $2.00 and last traded at $1.96. Approximately 11,891,673 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 74,584,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PLUG. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Plug Power from $3.00 to $2.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. BTIG Research lowered Plug Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised Plug Power to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Plug Power from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on Plug Power from $2.00 to $2.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Plug Power presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.18.

Plug Power Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.89 and a beta of 1.79. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.18.

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The electronics maker reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by ($0.01). Plug Power had a negative return on equity of 46.99% and a negative net margin of 214.05%. The firm had revenue of $173.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.47) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Plug Power Inc. will post -1.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plug Power

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Plug Power by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 100,369 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 9,977 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Plug Power during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Plug Power by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,452,369 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,224,000 after acquiring an additional 183,438 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Plug Power in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Plug Power by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 219,473 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $467,000 after purchasing an additional 26,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 43.48% of the company’s stock.

About Plug Power

Plug Power Inc develops hydrogen and fuel cell product solutions in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers GenDrive, a hydrogen-fueled proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system that provides power to material handling electric vehicles; GenSure, a stationary fuel cell solution that offers modular PEM fuel cell power to support the backup and grid-support power requirements of the telecommunications, transportation, and utility sectors; ProGen, a fuel cell stack and engine technology used in mobility and stationary fuel cell systems, and as engines in electric delivery vans; GenFuel, a liquid hydrogen fueling delivery, generation, storage, and dispensing system; GenCare, an ongoing Internet of Things-based maintenance and on-site service program for GenDrive fuel cell systems, GenSure fuel cell systems, GenFuel hydrogen storage and dispensing products, and ProGen fuel cell engines; and GenKey, an integrated turn-key solution for transitioning to fuel cell power.