Wall Street Zen Downgrades ATS (NYSE:ATS) to Buy

ATS (NYSE:ATS) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on ATS. Zacks Research raised shares of ATS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of ATS in a research report on Monday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on ATS from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of ATS in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of ATS in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.00.

ATS Stock Performance

Shares of ATS stock opened at $31.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.65. ATS has a 52 week low of $20.90 and a 52 week high of $32.73. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $28.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.68. The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 207.90 and a beta of 1.21.

ATS (NYSE:ATS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $553.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $722.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that ATS will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of ATS

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,562 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in ATS by 79.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 434,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,821,000 after purchasing an additional 191,842 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in ATS by 29.7% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 42,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,049,000 after buying an additional 9,636 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc raised its stake in ATS by 21.5% in the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 16,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $517,000 after buying an additional 2,869 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC bought a new stake in ATS in the second quarter valued at approximately $233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.84% of the company’s stock.

ATS Company Profile

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.