Advantage Solutions (NASDAQ:ADV) Shares Gap Up on Insider Buying Activity

Advantage Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:ADV) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $2.87, but opened at $3.08. Advantage Solutions shares last traded at $3.02, with a volume of 99,420 shares changing hands.

Specifically, CEO David A. Peacock acquired 40,000 shares of Advantage Solutions stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were bought at an average price of $2.79 per share, for a total transaction of $111,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,320,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,473,904.84. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, TheStreet upgraded shares of Advantage Solutions from a “d” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3.43.

Advantage Solutions Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $3.58 and a 200 day moving average of $3.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of -44.99 and a beta of 1.50.

Advantage Solutions (NASDAQ:ADV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.24). Advantage Solutions had a negative net margin of 0.36% and a negative return on equity of 5.26%. The business had revenue of $879.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $893.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.15) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Advantage Solutions Inc. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Advantage Solutions by 150.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 43,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 25,990 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank acquired a new position in Advantage Solutions in the third quarter worth $607,000. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in Advantage Solutions during the third quarter valued at $158,000. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Advantage Solutions by 546.4% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 678,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,926,000 after purchasing an additional 573,230 shares during the period. Finally, Kent Lake Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Advantage Solutions by 84.8% in the 3rd quarter. Kent Lake Capital LLC now owns 1,600,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,544,000 after buying an additional 734,020 shares during the last quarter. 49.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Advantage Solutions

Advantage Solutions Inc provides business solutions to consumer goods manufacturers and retailers in North America and internationally. It operates in two segments, Sales and Marketing. The Sales segment offers brand-centric services, such as headquarter relationship management; analytics, insights, and intelligence; and brand-centric merchandising services.