ATS (NYSE:ATS) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

ATS (NYSE:ATS) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

ATS has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of ATS from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of ATS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, TD Securities lowered shares of ATS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.50.

ATS Price Performance

ATS stock opened at $18.68 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.95 and a beta of 1.18. ATS has a one year low of $17.15 and a one year high of $35.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $18.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.68.

ATS (NYSE:ATS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $488.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $509.71 million. ATS had a net margin of 1.60% and a return on equity of 8.96%. ATS’s revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that ATS will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of ATS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ATS. Louisbourg Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of ATS by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc. now owns 129,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 18,208 shares during the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of ATS during the third quarter worth about $325,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its position in shares of ATS by 140.3% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 31,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $903,000 after purchasing an additional 18,311 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in shares of ATS in the second quarter worth approximately $713,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in shares of ATS by 3.0% in the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,683,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,431,000 after purchasing an additional 49,234 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.84% of the company’s stock.

About ATS

ATS Corporation is a Canadian automation solutions provider headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario. The company designs, builds and services automated manufacturing systems, production equipment and related technologies for manufacturers in a range of industries.

Its offerings include custom automation systems, assembly and test equipment, material-handling solutions, packaging systems, precision components and aftermarket services. ATS also provides automation software, controls, engineering, technical support and lifecycle services intended to improve production efficiency, quality and flexibility.

The company serves customers in sectors including life sciences, transportation, energy, consumer products and industrial manufacturing.