Brokerages Set Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) PT at $163.36

Shares of Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $163.36.

FRPT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Freshpet from $157.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Freshpet from $126.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Freshpet from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Freshpet from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Freshpet from $155.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freshpet news, President Scott James Morris sold 5,000 shares of Freshpet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.38, for a total value of $786,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 122,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,260,164.40. The trade was a 3.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Thembeka Machaba sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.85, for a total value of $384,625.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,962,175. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freshpet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bailard Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freshpet by 22.7% during the second quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Freshpet by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Freshpet by 89.9% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,000 after purchasing an additional 3,657 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in Freshpet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,978,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freshpet during the second quarter valued at about $336,000.

Freshpet Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of FRPT opened at $146.36 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.72, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Freshpet has a 12 month low of $82.16 and a 12 month high of $160.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $147.34 and its 200-day moving average is $137.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.10 billion, a PE ratio of 164.45 and a beta of 1.41.

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