KBC Group NV Acquires 307 Shares of Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT)

KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,704 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Freshpet were worth $1,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Freshpet by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Freshpet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 2,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Freshpet by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Freshpet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in Freshpet by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 20,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,031,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial cut Freshpet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Freshpet from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $90.00 price objective on Freshpet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Freshpet in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Freshpet from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.00.

Freshpet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FRPT opened at $71.74 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.92, a current ratio of 4.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.22. The company has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 231.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.79. Freshpet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $164.07.

Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.04). Freshpet had a net margin of 1.54% and a return on equity of 3.16%. The business had revenue of $263.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $265.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. Freshpet’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freshpet, Inc. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.