ESS Tech (NYSE:GWH) Downgraded by Robert W. Baird to Underperform

Robert W. Baird cut shares of ESS Tech (NYSE:GWH) from a neutral rating to an underperform rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $9.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $14.00.

GWH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of ESS Tech from $17.25 to $13.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on ESS Tech from $30.00 to $22.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on ESS Tech from $18.75 to $15.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of ESS Tech from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.58.

ESS Tech Stock Performance

NYSE:GWH traded down $2.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $5.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 295,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 69,187. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.59. ESS Tech has a 1 year low of $5.20 and a 1 year high of $20.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.92 and a beta of 1.41.

ESS Tech (NYSE:GWH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported ($27.00) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($24.75) by ($2.25). ESS Tech had a negative net margin of 1,263.79% and a negative return on equity of 90.93%. The company had revenue of $0.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 million. Equities analysts anticipate that ESS Tech will post -6.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sandeep Nijhawan sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.72, for a total transaction of $40,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,871.64. This trade represents a 31.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ESS Tech

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESS Tech in the first quarter worth $31,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ESS Tech by 6.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,263,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,361,000 after purchasing an additional 212,070 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new position in ESS Tech during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CWM LLC purchased a new stake in ESS Tech in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in ESS Tech during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. 46.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ESS Tech Company Profile

ESS Tech, Inc, an energy storage company, designs and produces iron flow batteries for commercial and utility-scale energy storage applications worldwide. It offers energy storage products, which include Energy Warehouse, a behind-the-meter solution; and Energy Center, a front-of-the-meter solution. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon.