Cree (NASDAQ:CREE) Upgraded at Charter Equity
Cree (NASDAQ:CREE) was upgraded by analysts at Charter Equity from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports.
CREE has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Cree from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $93.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, December 7th. Canaccord Genuity upped their price objective on shares of Cree from $80.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Cree from $60.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 26th. Citigroup upgraded Cree from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $105.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 17th. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded Cree from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Cree presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $106.42.
Shares of Cree stock traded down $2.55 during trading on Thursday, hitting $115.71. 13,224 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,997,278. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.15 and a beta of 1.43. Cree has a 1-year low of $27.77 and a 1-year high of $129.90. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $116.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 4.33 and a quick ratio of 3.78.
Cree (NASDAQ:CREE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 26th. The LED producer reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.25) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $127.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $121.54 million. Cree had a negative net margin of 38.54% and a negative return on equity of 5.94%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.10) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cree will post -1.28 earnings per share for the current year.
In other news, Director Clyde Hosein sold 13,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.48, for a total transaction of $1,733,631.68. Also, Director Thomas H. Werner sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.02, for a total value of $910,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 61,315 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,580,891.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,538 shares of company stock worth $2,822,231. Insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.
Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cree in the 4th quarter valued at about $122,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cree in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,124,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Cree in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,272,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cree by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 5,670 shares of the LED producer's stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning raised its holdings in shares of Cree by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning now owns 50,000 shares of the LED producer's stock valued at $5,295,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter.
About Cree
Cree, Inc provides lighting-class light emitting diode (LED) and semiconductor products for power and radio-frequency (RF) applications in the United States, China, Europe, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Wolfspeed and LED Products. The Wolfspeed segment offers silicon carbide (SiC) materials for RF, power switching, gemstones, and other applications.
