Post (NYSE:POST) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Post (NYSE:POST) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Thursday, Zacks reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Post from $98.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Post from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on Post from $106.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 10th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $125.00 price target on Post in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore set a $121.00 price objective on shares of Post in a report on Monday, August 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.00.

Post Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Post stock opened at $72.62 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $81.43 and a 200 day moving average of $90.51. Post has a fifty-two week low of $71.45 and a fifty-two week high of $117.28.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Post

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Post

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in POST. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Post by 3.9% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Post by 1.0% during the 4th 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 shares of Post during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $54,599,000. Junto Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Post by 44.6% in the second quarter. Junto Capital Management LP now owns 589,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,025,000 after purchasing an additional 181,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Post by 278.8% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 549,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,542,000 after purchasing an additional 404,775 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.85% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Post

Here are the key news stories impacting Post this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: No material news about Post Holdings, such as an earnings release, guidance update, acquisition announcement, or analyst action, appears in the supplied articles. Post Holdings stock quote
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment remains pressured by Post Holdings’ weaker recent operating trends: its latest quarterly revenue declined 1.8% year over year and missed consensus expectations, even though adjusted earnings exceeded estimates.
• Negative Sentiment: The shares remain below both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages and are close to the company’s one-year low, signaling continued technical weakness and limited near-term momentum.

Post Company Profile

Post Holdings, Inc is a consumer packaged goods company that develops, manufactures and distributes branded and private-label food products. Its portfolio includes ready-to-eat cereals, granola, protein shakes and bars, pet food, eggs and egg products, refrigerated breakfast foods, side dishes, sausage, and other convenience foods.

The company operates through businesses including Post Consumer Brands, which markets cereal and pet food products; Weetabix, a United Kingdom-based cereal business with brands sold in the U.K.