Man Group plc Decreases Stock Holdings in Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT)

Man Group plc trimmed its stake in Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT - Free Report) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 489,832 shares of the company's stock after selling 9,230 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned approximately 1.01% of Freshpet worth $72,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nicholas Investment Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Freshpet by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 46,361 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,867,000 after buying an additional 1,892 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Freshpet in the 4th quarter valued at $70,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Freshpet in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,108,000. Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Freshpet by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 20,506 shares of the company's stock worth $3,037,000 after purchasing an additional 8,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freshpet in the 4th quarter valued at $231,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on FRPT shares. Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of Freshpet from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Freshpet from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Freshpet from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Freshpet from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Freshpet from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $135.73.

Freshpet Stock Down 0.9%

FRPT stock traded down $0.80 during trading on Monday, reaching $86.85. 416,975 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 852,819. The firm's 50 day moving average is $80.67 and its 200 day moving average is $120.37. Freshpet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.19 and a twelve month high of $164.07. The company has a current ratio of 4.72, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.45 and a beta of 1.85.

Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.04). Freshpet had a return on equity of 3.92% and a net margin of 4.81%. The firm had revenue of $263.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $265.57 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Freshpet, Inc. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Freshpet Profile

Freshpet, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and markets natural fresh meals and treats for dogs and cats in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It sells dog food, cat food, and dog treats under the Freshpet brand name; and Dognation and Dog Joy labels through various classes of retail, including grocery, mass, club, pet specialty, and natural, as well as online.