M&T Bank Corp Purchases Shares of 69,331 Post Holdings, Inc. $POST

Key Points

• M&T Bank purchased 69,331 shares of Post (about $6.87M) in Q4, and institutional investors collectively own roughly 94.85% of the company.
• Wall Street has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $124.50, although major brokers (Wells Fargo, Barclays, JPMorgan) have recently trimmed price targets.
• Post beat Q4 EPS (reported $2.13 vs $1.66 est.) with revenue up 10.2% YoY, but the business has high leverage (debt/equity ~2.15), thin margins, and may underperform in the current tech-led, risk-on market.

M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in shares of Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 69,331 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,867,000. M&T Bank Corp owned about 0.13% of Post as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in POST. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its stake in Post by 4.5% in the third quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 158,701 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,057,000 after buying an additional 6,861 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Post by 26.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 63,612 shares of the company's stock worth $6,850,000 after acquiring an additional 13,354 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Post by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 177,039 shares of the company's stock worth $19,028,000 after acquiring an additional 20,099 shares during the period. EULAV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Post by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 225,071 shares of the company's stock worth $24,191,000 after acquiring an additional 21,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Post by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 310,946 shares of the company's stock worth $33,420,000 after acquiring an additional 32,404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.85% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Post from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Post from $127.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Post from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Post from $133.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Post from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $124.50.

Key Headlines Impacting Post

Here are the key news stories impacting Post this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broad U.S. indices rallied on tech strength and signs of Iran diplomacy, supporting risk assets — a tailwind for stocks generally. S&P 500 and Nasdaq Post Record Highs on Tech Stock Strength and Iran Diplomacy
• Positive Sentiment: Justice Department dropped its inquiry into Fed Chair Jerome Powell — removes a degree of political uncertainty around Fed leadership and could reduce macro risk for markets. Justice Department drops inquiry into Fed Chair Jerome Powell
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary and value write-ups are circulating that raise visibility on POST as potentially undervalued, which can attract longer-term buyers even if near-term flows favor growth. Is Post Holdings (POST) Stock Undervalued Right Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Direct Iran diplomacy updates (envoys heading to talks) reduced immediate geopolitical risk; this helped broader markets but benefits cyclical and tech more than consumer staples. Live Updates: Witkoff, Kushner to head to new Iran peace talks in Pakistan, White House says - CBS News
• Negative Sentiment: No fresh Post-specific news or new positive catalysts in the feed today — absence of company news often leads to underperformance versus sectors that are in favor.
• Negative Sentiment: Sector rotation: markets are in a "risk-on" phase led by tech and cyclical names; consumer-packaged-goods names like POST can lag on short-term flows as investors chase growth.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical and liquidity signals: POST is trading near its 50/200-day moving averages with volume a bit below average and relatively high leverage (debt/equity ~2.15), factors that can amplify down moves when investors reduce exposure.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Post news, Director Gregory L. Curl sold 6,983 shares of Post stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.31, for a total value of $798,226.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 21,293 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,434,002.83. The trade was a 24.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 14.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Post Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:POST opened at $103.75 on Friday. Post Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.13 and a 12-month high of $117.28. The company's 50 day moving average price is $101.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.42. The firm has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 19.18 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15.

Post (NYSE:POST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Post had a net margin of 3.82% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.73 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Post Holdings, Inc. will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Post Company Profile

Post Holdings, Inc is a consumer packaged goods company that operates as a holding company for a diverse portfolio of food and beverage brands. The company's principal activities include the production, marketing and distribution of ready-to-eat cereal, refrigerated and frozen foods, and nutritional beverages. Through its operating segments—Post Consumer Brands, Foodservice, Refrigerated Side Dishes & Bakery, and Active Nutrition—Post Holdings delivers a broad array of products to retail grocers, convenience stores, foodservice operators and e-commerce channels.

The Post Consumer Brands segment features a variety of hot and cold cereals under names such as Honey Bunches of Oats, Shredded Wheat and Pebbles.

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