Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Sovos Brands (NASDAQ:SOVO)

Sovos Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOVO) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 3,018 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 347% compared to the typical daily volume of 675 call options.

Sovos Brands Price Performance

Shares of SOVO traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $22.67. 804,797 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 791,513. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $20.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.61. Sovos Brands has a 12-month low of $12.74 and a 12-month high of $22.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.34. The company has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -161.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.01.

Sovos Brands (NASDAQ:SOVO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 9th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.04. Sovos Brands had a negative net margin of 1.49% and a positive return on equity of 14.14%. The business had revenue of $217.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $213.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Sovos Brands will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sovos Brands

In other Sovos Brands news, CEO Todd R. Lachman sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.62, for a total transaction of $882,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,164,761 shares in the company, valued at $42,472,610.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Todd R. Lachman sold 5,000 shares of Sovos Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.53, for a total transaction of $112,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,979,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,604,015.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Todd R. Lachman sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.62, for a total value of $882,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,164,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,472,610.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 275,000 shares of company stock worth $5,707,050. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sovos Brands

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SOVO. Ranger Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Sovos Brands by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,346,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,454,000 after acquiring an additional 300,831 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Sovos Brands by 29.5% during the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,011,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,233,000 after acquiring an additional 685,765 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in shares of Sovos Brands by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,613,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,193,000 after acquiring an additional 13,028 shares during the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sovos Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $1,012,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Sovos Brands by 67.8% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,125,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,138,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,812 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SOVO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Sovos Brands from $22.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 27th. Telsey Advisory Group cut shares of Sovos Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 8th. William Blair cut shares of Sovos Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Sovos Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 7th. Finally, Stephens downgraded Sovos Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $23.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.17.

Sovos Brands Company Profile

Sovos Brands, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer-packaged food company that manufactures and distributes consumer food products in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Dinner and Sauces, and Breakfast and Snacks. It provides pasta sauces, dry pasta, soups, frozen entrees, frozen pizza, yogurts, pancake and waffle mixes, other baking mixes, and frozen waffles under the Rao's, Michael Angelo's, noosa, and Birch Benders brands.