Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Raises Holdings in Medifast, Inc. (NYSE:MED)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Medifast, Inc. (NYSE:MED – Get Rating) by 4.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,761 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Medifast were worth $624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Medifast by 437.5% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,550 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after purchasing an additional 11,843 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Medifast by 4.5% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 1,488 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Medifast by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its stake in shares of Medifast by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 3,077 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $526,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Medifast by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 13,490 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,304,000 after acquiring an additional 2,166 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Medifast news, Director Jeffrey J. Brown purchased 561 shares of Medifast stock in a transaction on Friday, November 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $105.06 per share, with a total value of $58,938.66. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,834,584.94. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. DA Davidson downgraded Medifast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $278.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Friday, November 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Medifast from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 2nd.

Medifast Stock Performance

MED stock opened at $118.22 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $118.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.96. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.96 and a beta of 1.18. Medifast, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.00 and a 1 year high of $204.14.

Medifast (NYSE:MED – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $3.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $1.41. Medifast had a return on equity of 89.82% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $390.40 million for the quarter. On average, research analysts predict that Medifast, Inc. will post 13 earnings per share for the current year.

Medifast Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 20th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 19th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.55%. Medifast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.73%.

Medifast Company Profile

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Medifast, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes weight loss, weight management, healthy living products, and other consumable health and nutritional products in the United States and the Asia-Pacific. The company offers bars, bites, pretzels, puffs, cereal crunch, drinks, hearty choices, oatmeal, pancakes, pudding, soft serves, shakes, smoothies, soft bakes, and soups under the OPTAVIA, Optimal Health by Take Shape for Life, and Flavors of Home brands.