Western Standard LLC Acquires New Holdings in Freshpet, Inc. $FRPT

Western Standard LLC acquired a new position in Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 127,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,526,000. Freshpet makes up about 2.5% of Western Standard LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Optimize Financial Inc boosted its position in Freshpet by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 10,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $668,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Freshpet by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 11,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $680,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freshpet by 55.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 555 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freshpet by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ossiam lifted its stake in shares of Freshpet by 81.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ossiam now owns 509 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on FRPT shares. DA Davidson cut their target price on Freshpet from $101.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $72.00 price target (down from $77.00) on shares of Freshpet in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Freshpet from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Freshpet in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Freshpet from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.31.

Freshpet Stock Up 3.3%

Freshpet stock opened at $75.03 on Thursday. Freshpet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.45 and a 1-year high of $86.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $59.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 6.05 and a quick ratio of 5.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.74 and a beta of 1.61.

Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.17. Freshpet had a return on equity of 5.97% and a net margin of 17.28%.The company had revenue of $305.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.35 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Freshpet, Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William B. Cyr sold 3,045 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.41, for a total transaction of $220,488.45. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 33,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,425,952.23. The trade was a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 90,881 shares of company stock valued at $5,598,918 over the last three months. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Freshpet Profile

Freshpet Inc (NASDAQ: FRPT) is a leading pet food company specializing in fresh, refrigerated meals and treats for dogs and cats. The company’s products are formulated with carefully selected, natural ingredients and are designed to offer a higher level of nutrition and freshness than traditional dry or canned pet foods. Freshpet’s offerings include refrigerated rolls, pâtés and snacks, all of which are sold through the refrigerated section of grocery, mass-market and pet specialty stores.

Freshpet’s product portfolio is built around the concept of fresh, minimally processed recipes that do not require preservatives or artificial colors.