Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.00.

AMRC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Ameresco from $40.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price target (up from $37.00) on shares of Ameresco in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Ameresco from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Ameresco from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 10th. Finally, B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Ameresco from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameresco news, Director Nickolas Stavropoulos sold 15,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.15, for a total transaction of $536,155.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 14,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $481,890.65. This trade represents a 52.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,020 shares of company stock worth $577,840. 44.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameresco

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Ameresco by 14.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 679,355 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,319,000 after acquiring an additional 84,960 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Ameresco by 1,832.5% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,775,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,965,000 after acquiring an additional 1,683,326 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in Ameresco by 318.2% in the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 107,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,620,000 after acquiring an additional 82,015 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Ameresco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,895,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in shares of Ameresco during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,300,000. 99.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ameresco Stock Up 2.0%

Ameresco stock opened at $26.10 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.51. Ameresco has a one year low of $8.49 and a one year high of $44.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 2.53.

Ameresco (NYSE:AMRC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.07. Ameresco had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.49%. The firm had revenue of $581.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $556.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Ameresco’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ameresco will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameresco Company Profile

Ameresco, Inc is a leading independent provider of comprehensive energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions for businesses and governments across North America, Europe and other select markets. Its integrated services portfolio includes energy efficiency retrofits, infrastructure upgrades, distributed generation systems and facility-scale renewable projects. Leveraging performance-based contracting models, Ameresco designs, finances, installs and maintains energy improvements intended to reduce operational costs, mitigate environmental impact and enhance resiliency for its clients.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts, Ameresco has completed thousands of projects spanning solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas?to?energy, energy storage and microgrid installations.