Verition Fund Management LLC Acquires 39,693 Shares of Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT)

Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) by 45.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 126,575 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,693 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Freshpet were worth $17,312,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Freshpet by 41.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA boosted its holdings in Freshpet by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA now owns 3,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $490,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in Freshpet by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in Freshpet by 13.9% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in shares of Freshpet by 6.7% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Freshpet from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Freshpet from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com lowered Freshpet from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Freshpet from $155.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on Freshpet from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $157.80.

Freshpet Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:FRPT opened at $153.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 171.97 and a beta of 1.39. Freshpet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.37 and a 52 week high of $160.91. The company has a quick ratio of 3.91, a current ratio of 4.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $143.76 and a 200 day moving average of $134.49.

Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $253.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.36 million. Freshpet had a return on equity of 3.67% and a net margin of 4.75%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.15) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freshpet, Inc. will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freshpet

In related news, President Scott James Morris sold 5,000 shares of Freshpet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.13, for a total value of $790,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 122,380 shares in the company, valued at $19,351,949.40. This trade represents a 3.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Thembeka Machaba sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.85, for a total transaction of $384,625.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,678 shares of company stock worth $1,480,217. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Freshpet Company Profile

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.