Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on TreeHouse Foods (NYSE:THS)

TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE:THS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 2,732 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 951% compared to the average daily volume of 260 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

THS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Consumer Edge cut TreeHouse Foods from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays raised their target price on TreeHouse Foods from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TreeHouse Foods from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TreeHouse Foods currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.83.

TreeHouse Foods Price Performance

THS traded down $0.28 on Tuesday, hitting $30.67. 53,757 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 537,554. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.98 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.36. The business’s fifty day moving average is $33.36 and its 200 day moving average is $36.36. TreeHouse Foods has a fifty-two week low of $28.04 and a fifty-two week high of $43.84.

TreeHouse Foods (NYSE:THS) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $905.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $907.71 million. TreeHouse Foods had a net margin of 0.80% and a return on equity of 6.42%. TreeHouse Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that TreeHouse Foods will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TreeHouse Foods

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in TreeHouse Foods by 456.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 40.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in TreeHouse Foods by 134.4% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in TreeHouse Foods by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 1,508 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in TreeHouse Foods during the 4th quarter worth $216,000. 99.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About TreeHouse Foods

TreeHouse Foods, Inc manufactures and distributes private brands snacks and beverages in the United States and internationally. The company provides snacking products, such as crackers, pretzels, in-store bakery items, frozen griddle items, cookies, and candies; and beverage and drink mixes, including non-dairy creamer, coffee, broths/stocks, powdered beverages and other blends, tea, and ready-to-drink-beverages.