Wealth Alliance Takes Position in Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT)

Wealth Alliance acquired a new stake in Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in FRPT. JANA Partners Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Freshpet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $214,405,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Freshpet by 47.6% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,545,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,519,000 after acquiring an additional 820,482 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Freshpet in the 4th quarter valued at $35,691,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Freshpet by 28.4% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,075,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,344,000 after acquiring an additional 458,570 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Freshpet in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,044,000.

Insider Activity at Freshpet

In related news, EVP Stephen Macchiaverna sold 7,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.53, for a total value of $773,818.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,231,127.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, COO Scott James Morris sold 2,500 shares of Freshpet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.76, for a total transaction of $284,400.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 122,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,921,948.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Macchiaverna sold 7,130 shares of Freshpet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.53, for a total value of $773,818.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,056 shares in the company, valued at $9,231,127.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,762 shares of company stock valued at $1,737,280 over the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Freshpet from $67.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Freshpet to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Freshpet from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Freshpet from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Freshpet from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.36.

Freshpet Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ FRPT opened at $104.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 4.08 and a current ratio of 4.79. Freshpet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.60 and a 52 week high of $117.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -147.45 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $106.43 and its 200 day moving average is $85.41.

Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.22. Freshpet had a negative return on equity of 3.56% and a negative net margin of 4.38%. The company had revenue of $215.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.06) earnings per share. Freshpet’s revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Freshpet, Inc. will post 0.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freshpet Company Profile

Freshpet, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and markets natural fresh meals and treats for dogs and cats in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It sells dog food, cat food, and dog treats under the Freshpet brand name; and Dognation and Dog Joy labels through various classes of retail, including grocery, mass, club, pet specialty, and natural, as well as online.