JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) Short Interest Up 15.6% in March

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,030,000 shares, a growth of 15.6% from the March 15th total of 2,620,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 907,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on JKS. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of JinkoSolar from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of JinkoSolar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of JinkoSolar from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of JinkoSolar in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of JinkoSolar from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.60.

Institutional Trading of JinkoSolar

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Green Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of JinkoSolar by 21.9% in the first quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 75,993 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,914,000 after purchasing an additional 13,674 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of JinkoSolar by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,576,610 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,240,000 after purchasing an additional 22,254 shares in the last quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of JinkoSolar in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,108,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of JinkoSolar by 126.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 149,506 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,523,000 after purchasing an additional 83,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vienna Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of JinkoSolar in the fourth quarter valued at about $268,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 35.82% of the company’s stock.

JinkoSolar Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:JKS traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.50. The stock had a trading volume of 841,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 929,850. The company has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $25.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. JinkoSolar has a 1 year low of $22.06 and a 1 year high of $51.35.

JinkoSolar (NYSE:JKS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The semiconductor company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by ($1.11). The company had revenue of $4.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.08 billion. JinkoSolar had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 2.89%. As a group, equities analysts predict that JinkoSolar will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

JinkoSolar Company Profile

JinkoSolar Holding Co, Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, production, and marketing of photovoltaic products. The company offers solar modules, silicon wafers, solar cells, recovered silicon materials, and silicon ingots. It also provides solar system integration services; and develops commercial solar power projects.