Post Holdings, Inc. $POST Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Post Holdings, Inc. by 49%, selling 6,144 shares and ending the quarter with 6,394 shares valued at $744,000.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Post, with Mizuho lowering it to $127 and Piper Sandler raising it to $150, while the consensus price target stands at $131.20.
• Post Holdings reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $2.03 for the last quarter, beating estimates of $1.67, and revenue rose by 1.9% year-over-year to $1.98 billion.

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its stake in Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST - Free Report) by 49.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,394 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,144 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Post were worth $744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Post by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 477 shares of the company's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Post by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 302,241 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,169,000 after buying an additional 32,995 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Post by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,922 shares of the company's stock valued at $805,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Post by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,418,085 shares of the company's stock valued at $630,448,000 after buying an additional 277,786 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Post by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,215 shares of the company's stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.85% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William P. Stiritz bought 36,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $109.53 per share, for a total transaction of $3,943,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,334,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $474,776,076.51. This trade represents a 0.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nicolas Catoggio sold 1,750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.97, for a total value of $190,697.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 43,751 shares in the company, valued at $4,767,546.47. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Post Trading Up 1.6%

POST traded up $1.80 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $113.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 544,699 shares, compared to its average volume of 749,592. Post Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.05 and a fifty-two week high of $125.84. The stock has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 19.23 and a beta of 0.51. The business's 50-day moving average is $108.19 and its 200-day moving average is $111.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Post (NYSE:POST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.95 billion. Post had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 4.62%.The firm's revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Post Holdings, Inc. will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Post announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, August 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

POST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Post from $120.00 to $117.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Post from $130.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Post from $122.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Post from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Post from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Post currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $131.20.

Post Profile

Post Holdings, Inc operates as a consumer packaged goods holding company in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Post Consumer Brands, Weetabix, Foodservice, and Refrigerated Retail. The Post Consumer Brands segment manufactures, markets, and sells branded and private label ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals under Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles, and Malt-O-Meal brand names; hot cereal; peanut butter under the Peter Pan brand; and branded and private label dog and cat food products under Rachael Ray Nutrish, Nature's Recipe, 9Lives, Kibbles 'n Bits and Gravy Train brand names.