Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT) Trading Down 4.5%

Shares of Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) traded down 4.5% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $123.40 and last traded at $123.57. 225,877 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 599,044 shares. The stock had previously closed at $129.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Freshpet from $128.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Freshpet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $168.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Benchmark upped their target price on Freshpet from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Freshpet from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freshpet to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.71.

Freshpet Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 4.97, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $127.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a PE ratio of 707.76 and a beta of 1.36.

Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.43. Freshpet had a return on equity of 0.20% and a net margin of 1.19%. The company had revenue of $223.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.43 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Freshpet, Inc. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freshpet news, EVP Stephen Macchiaverna sold 6,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.15, for a total transaction of $786,742.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 86,039 shares in the company, valued at $10,337,585.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 13,560 shares of company stock worth $1,701,580 in the last quarter. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freshpet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FRPT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Freshpet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,666,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $540,650,000 after purchasing an additional 13,709 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Freshpet by 5.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,576,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $235,588,000 after acquiring an additional 185,210 shares during the period. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC lifted its position in Freshpet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC now owns 1,709,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,322,000 after purchasing an additional 47,862 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Freshpet by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,689,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,602,000 after acquiring an additional 117,864 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Freshpet by 36.6% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 915,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,457,000 after buying an additional 245,403 shares in the last quarter.

About Freshpet

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.