Brokerages Set Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST) Target Price at $109.00

Shares of Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $109.00.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Post from $106.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Post from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Post from $116.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $117.00 price target on shares of Post in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Post from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th.

More Post News

Here are the key news stories impacting Post this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Post’s latest quarterly results were mixed: adjusted earnings per share of $1.78 exceeded the $1.70 consensus estimate, but revenue of $1.95 billion missed expectations of $2.02 billion and declined 1.8% year over year. Lower year-over-year EPS also leaves questions about the company’s growth trajectory. Post Holdings earnings and stock information
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $109. The target implies potential upside from recent trading levels, but recent target reductions and the company’s revenue decline may limit near-term enthusiasm.
• Negative Sentiment: Chairman William P. Stiritz sold a combined 384,132 shares of Post Holdings for approximately $32.3 million across transactions on September 1 and 2. The September 1 sale reduced his direct ownership by 27.65%, which may weigh on investor confidence because of its size, although insider sales can also reflect personal liquidity or diversification needs. SEC insider transaction filing

Insider Activity at Post

In other news, Chairman William P. Stiritz sold 277,935 shares of Post stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.23, for a total value of $23,410,465.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 14.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Post

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Post by 8,443.5% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,353,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $384,233,000 after acquiring an additional 4,302,469 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Post by 3.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,071,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,678,000 after acquiring an additional 114,677 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Post in the 4th quarter valued at $113,660,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Post by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 880,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,282,000 after purchasing an additional 8,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new position in Post during the second quarter valued at about $54,599,000. 94.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Post Price Performance

Shares of POST stock opened at $84.46 on Monday. 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 has a twelve month low of $75.40 and a twelve month high of $117.28. The company has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.49.

Post (NYSE:POST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. Post had a net margin of 3.48% and a return on equity of 13.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Post will post 7.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Post

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.