Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Spark Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPKE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, July 26th.
According to Zacks, “Spark Energy, Inc. is an independent retail energy services company. It provides residential and commercial customers across the United States with an alternative choice for their natural gas and electricity. The company is involved in the retail distribution of natural gas and electricity. It also offers renewable and carbon neutral products. Spark Energy, Inc. is headquartered in Houston, Texas. “
SPKE has been the topic of several other reports. TheStreet raised Spark Energy from a c rating to a b- rating in a research report on Monday, May 8th. Wunderlich raised their target price on Spark Energy from $22.00 to $27.50 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, June 12th. FBR & Co set a $24.00 target price on Spark Energy and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Guggenheim raised Spark Energy from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $23.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 7th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott set a $22.00 target price on Spark Energy and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. The company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $23.08.
Spark Energy (SPKE) opened at 17.80 on Wednesday. Spark Energy has a 52 week low of $11.52 and a 52 week high of $23.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.73 and a 200-day moving average of $29.29. The company has a market capitalization of $233.98 million, a P/E ratio of 24.52 and a beta of -1.62.
Spark Energy (NASDAQ:SPKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.15. Spark Energy had a net margin of 1.68% and a return on equity of 9.13%. The business had revenue of $151.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $135.72 million. On average, analysts forecast that Spark Energy will post $0.68 earnings per share for the current year.
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The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.1813 per share. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 25th. Spark Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 107.35%.
Spark Energy announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 24th that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the utilities provider to reacquire up to 19.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.
In other news, Director W Keith Maxwell III acquired 5,615 shares of Spark Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $37.69 per share, with a total value of $211,629.35. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 328,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,398,615.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nathan Kroeker sold 21,244 shares of Spark Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $916,253.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,213,462.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 28,642 shares of company stock worth $1,086,092 and have sold 175,586 shares worth $4,175,616. 66.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Spark Energy by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 105,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,194,000 after buying an additional 6,200 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Spark Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 109,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,332,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Teachers Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Spark Energy by 98.9% in the fourth quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC now owns 13,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 6,691 shares during the period. Boston Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Spark Energy by 21.8% in the first quarter. Boston Advisors LLC now owns 165,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,297,000 after buying an additional 29,650 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Spark Energy by 1,652.5% in the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 6,610 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.77% of the company’s stock.
About Spark Energy
Spark Energy, Inc is an independent retail energy services company. The Company provides residential and commercial customers across the United States with an alternative choice for their natural gas and electricity. The Company operates through two segments: Retail Natural Gas Segment and Retail Electricity Segment.
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