Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Makes New Investment in Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $656,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Freshpet in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freshpet in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Freshpet by 3,670.0% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 367 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Freshpet during the second quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Freshpet during the third quarter worth about $54,000.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Thembeka Machaba sold 2,500 shares of Freshpet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.85, for a total transaction of $384,625.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Scott James Morris sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.13, for a total value of $790,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 122,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,351,949.40. This represents a 3.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,962,175. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on FRPT shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Freshpet from $155.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Freshpet in a report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Freshpet from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Freshpet from $126.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Freshpet from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.80.

Freshpet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRPT opened at $146.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.72, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 165.05 and a beta of 1.41. Freshpet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $82.16 and a 12 month high of $160.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $146.64 and a 200-day moving average of $136.36.

Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $253.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $248.36 million. Freshpet had a net margin of 4.75% and a return on equity of 3.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.15) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Freshpet, Inc. will post 0.9 EPS for the current year.

Freshpet 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.