The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Cuts Stock Position in Post Holdings, Inc. $POST

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in Post Holdings by 1.4%, now holding roughly 973,253 shares worth approximately $113.25 million.
• Post Holdings reported a strong earnings performance with an EPS of $2.03, exceeding expectations of $1.67, and revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Brooklyn Investment Group and MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB, significantly increased their positions in Post, showing a general trend of growing institutional interest in the stock.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its stake in shares of Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST - Free Report) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 973,253 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,722 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 1.72% of Post worth $113,248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of POST. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Post by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,045,306 shares of the company's stock worth $119,646,000 after purchasing an additional 364,006 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Post during the first quarter valued at $34,528,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 worth $630,448,000 after purchasing an additional 277,786 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Post by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 915,487 shares of the company's stock worth $106,526,000 after purchasing an additional 191,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Post by 10,001.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 176,984 shares of the company's stock worth $20,594,000 after purchasing an additional 175,232 shares during the last quarter. 94.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on POST. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Post from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Post from $120.00 to $117.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Post from $122.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Post from $130.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Post from $133.00 to $127.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Post currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $131.20.

Post Stock Performance

Post stock traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $110.95. The stock had a trading volume of 697,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 638,756. The firm's fifty day moving average is $108.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $111.16. The company has a market capitalization of $6.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87 and a beta of 0.51. Post Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.05 and a 52-week high of $125.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

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

Post declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, August 29th that permits the company to buyback $0.00 in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.