Post (NYSE:POST) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.24 EPS

Post (NYSE:POST) released its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.24, Zacks reports. Post had a return on equity of 10.49% and a net margin of 4.63%.

Post Stock Performance

POST stock traded up $0.91 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $105.72. 839,789 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 520,845. Post has a 1-year low of $99.62 and a 1-year high of $125.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $112.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.82. The firm has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.75 and a beta of 0.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on POST. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Post from $120.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Post from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Post from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Post news, CEO Nicolas Catoggio sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.14, for a total transaction of $726,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,540,491.14. This represents a 7.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeff A. Zadoks sold 28,969 shares of Post stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.96, for a total transaction of $3,475,121.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 67,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,131,848.48. This trade represents a 29.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 35,969 shares of company stock worth $4,322,051. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

About Post

Post Holdings, Inc operates as a consumer packaged goods holding company in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Post Consumer Brands, Weetabix, Foodservice, and Refrigerated Retail. The Post Consumer Brands segment manufactures, markets, and sells branded and private label ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals under Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles, and Malt-O-Meal brand names; hot cereal; peanut butter under the Peter Pan brand; and branded and private label dog and cat food products under Rachael Ray Nutrish, Nature's Recipe, 9Lives, Kibbles 'n Bits and Gravy Train brand names.