Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys 69,442 Shares of Post Holdings, Inc. $POST

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST) by 245.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 97,778 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 69,442 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Post were worth $8,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Post by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,071,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,678,000 after buying an additional 114,677 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Post during the fourth quarter worth $113,660,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Post by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 880,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,282,000 after acquiring an additional 8,906 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new position in Post during the second quarter valued at $54,599,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Post by 41.3% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 462,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,736,000 after acquiring an additional 135,236 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on POST shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Post from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Post in a research report on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Post from $116.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $117.00 target price on Post in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Post from $106.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.00.

Insider Transactions at Post

In other Post news, Chairman William P. Stiritz sold 277,935 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.23, for a total transaction of $23,410,465.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 14.05% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Post Trading Down 1.6%

POST opened at $81.07 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $85.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.83. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 0.37. Post Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.40 and a 52 week high of $117.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.47.

Post (NYSE:POST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.08. Post had a return on equity of 13.22% and a net margin of 3.48%.The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.03 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Post Holdings, Inc. will post 7.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Key Headlines Impacting Post

Here are the key news stories impacting Post this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Post’s premium cereal brands are gaining share, while assortment changes are helping the company narrow the performance gap with the broader cereal category. Post Holdings’ Premium Cereal Gains Share Amid Category Pressure
• Neutral Sentiment: In its latest reported quarter, Post exceeded earnings expectations with adjusted EPS of $1.78 versus the $1.70 consensus, but revenue of $1.95 billion fell short of estimates of $2.02 billion.
• Negative Sentiment: The cereal category remains challenging, and Post’s overall quarterly revenue declined 1.8% year over year. The revenue miss and weaker sales trend may be offsetting the earnings beat in investor sentiment.

Post Company Profile

Post Holdings, Inc is a consumer packaged goods company that operates as a holding company for a diverse portfolio of food and beverage brands. The company’s principal activities include the production, marketing and distribution of ready-to-eat cereal, refrigerated and frozen foods, and nutritional beverages. Through its operating segments—Post Consumer Brands, Foodservice, Refrigerated Side Dishes & Bakery, and Active Nutrition—Post Holdings delivers a broad array of products to retail grocers, convenience stores, foodservice operators and e-commerce channels.

The Post Consumer Brands segment features a variety of hot and cold cereals under names such as Honey Bunches of Oats, Shredded Wheat and Pebbles.