Legal & General Group Plc Trims Position in Chewy $CHWY

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc reduced its Chewy stake by 19.3% in Q4, selling 81,104 shares and leaving it with 340,061 shares worth about $11.2 million.
• Chewy’s latest earnings report missed profit expectations, with EPS of $0.09 versus the $0.28 estimate, while revenue came in roughly in line at $3.26 billion and rose just 0.5% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but still generally positive: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus, though several firms cut price targets and one recently downgraded the shares to Hold.

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in shares of Chewy (NYSE:CHWY - Free Report) by 19.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 340,061 shares of the company's stock after selling 81,104 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.08% of Chewy worth $11,239,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in Chewy by 306.3% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 845 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Chewy in the second quarter worth $30,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Chewy by 58.8% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 1,270 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period. Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new stake in Chewy in the third quarter worth $43,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Chewy by 412.2% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 878 shares during the period. 93.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citizens Jmp reduced their price target on Chewy from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Chewy in a research note on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Chewy from $42.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Wall Street Zen cut Chewy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $28.00 price target (down from $38.00) on shares of Chewy in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chewy presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.45.

Chewy Stock Performance

NYSE:CHWY opened at $21.07 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $8.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.44. Chewy has a fifty-two week low of $19.30 and a fifty-two week high of $48.62. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.10.

Chewy (NYSE:CHWY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $3.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.26 billion. Chewy had a return on equity of 53.48% and a net margin of 1.77%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Chewy will post 0.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Da-Wai Hu sold 8,149 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.91, for a total value of $219,289.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumit Singh sold 83,306 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.60, for a total transaction of $2,132,633.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 874,061 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,375,961.60. The trade was a 8.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,675 shares of company stock valued at $2,459,955. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Chewy Profile

Chewy, Inc NYSE: CHWY is a leading e-commerce retailer specializing in pet food, supplies and services. The company offers a comprehensive assortment of products for dogs, cats, fish, birds and other small animals, including prescription medications, veterinary health products, grooming essentials and toys. Through its online platform and mobile app, Chewy provides an intuitive shopping experience with features such as Autoship, ensuring regular deliveries of pet essentials at schedule intervals.

Founded in 2011 by Ryan Cohen and Michael Day, Chewy initially operated under the name Mr.

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