Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) Short Interest Update

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,730,000 shares, an increase of 11.3% from the December 15th total of 9,640,000 shares. Approximately 22.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Canadian Solar

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSIQ. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian Solar by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 5,115,665 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $75,456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037,800 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 131.5% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 428,733 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $7,186,000 after purchasing an additional 243,542 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Solar by 494.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 115,328 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 95,924 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Canadian Solar in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,109,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 101.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 113,461 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after buying an additional 57,246 shares during the period. 52.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho started coverage on Canadian Solar in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut Canadian Solar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Canadian Solar in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.15 price objective on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Canadian Solar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.31.

Canadian Solar Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSIQ traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $11.05. The stock had a trading volume of 1,467,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,511,765. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Canadian Solar has a 12 month low of $10.60 and a 12 month high of $25.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $731.07 million, a PE ratio of -92.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.27.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The solar energy provider reported ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Canadian Solar had a return on equity of 0.02% and a net margin of 0.01%. Canadian Solar’s revenue was down 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Canadian Solar will post -0.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian Solar Company Profile

Canadian Solar Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides solar energy and battery energy storage products and solutions in in Asia, the Americas, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, CSI Solar and Recurrent Energy. The CSI Solar segment designs, develops, and manufactures solar ingots, wafers, cells, modules, and other solar power and battery storage products.