Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST) Stock Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Analysts

Shares of Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $109.00.

POST has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Post from $98.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Post in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Post from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $117.00 target price on Post in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Post from $116.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 10th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman William P. Stiritz sold 277,935 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.23, for a total value of $23,410,465.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 14.05% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in POST. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Post by 3.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,071,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,678,000 after purchasing an additional 114,677 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Post during the fourth quarter valued at $113,660,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Post by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 880,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,282,000 after buying an additional 8,906 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new position in Post in the 2nd quarter worth about $54,599,000. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP increased its stake in Post by 44.6% in the 2nd quarter. Junto Capital Management LP now owns 589,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,025,000 after acquiring an additional 181,849 shares during the last quarter. 94.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Post

Here are the key news stories impacting Post this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Recent trading weakness appears more likely tied to technical pressure and investor concerns carried over from the company’s latest earnings report. Post’s EPS exceeded estimates, but revenue missed consensus and declined year over year, suggesting softer operating momentum.
• Neutral Sentiment: Shares are trading close to their 52-week low and below both the 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which may encourage continued caution and technical selling.
• Negative Sentiment: Post Holdings’ elevated debt-to-equity ratio of 2.47 and relatively thin quick ratio of 0.99 remain balance-sheet risks, particularly if consumer demand weakens or borrowing costs stay high.

Post Stock Down 2.1%

Post stock opened at $74.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.47. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $83.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.62. Post has a twelve month low of $74.13 and a twelve month high of $117.28.

Post (NYSE:POST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.08. Post had a return on equity of 13.22% and a net margin of 3.48%.The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Post will post 7.56 EPS for the current year.

Post Company Profile

Post Holdings, Inc is a consumer packaged goods company that develops, manufactures and markets branded and private-label food products. Its portfolio includes ready-to-eat cereal, hot cereal, pet food, protein products, peanut butter, and other grocery items sold through retail and e-commerce channels.

The company operates through several businesses, including Post Consumer Brands, Weetabix, Foodservice and Refrigerated Retail. Its brands include Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles, Grape-Nuts, Raisin Bran, Malt-O-Meal, Weetabix, Alpen, Bob Evans and Simply Potatoes.