Symbotic (NASDAQ:SYM) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Shares of Symbotic gapped up after DA Davidson upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy and raised its price target to $70 (from $57); the stock opened at $61.04 after a prior close of $56.56 and was last trading near $59.67.
• Symbotic missed EPS for the quarter (reported $0.02 vs. $0.08 expected) but delivered a revenue beat of $629.99M, up 29.4% year‑over‑year; despite upgrades, the analyst consensus per MarketBeat remains a Hold with a $65.62 consensus price target.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently—178,492 shares sold in the past 90 days (including sales by CTO James Kuffner and William Boyd III)—and company insiders now own 8.16% of outstanding stock.

Symbotic Inc. (NASDAQ:SYM - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after DA Davidson upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $56.56, but opened at $61.04. DA Davidson now has a $70.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $57.00. Symbotic shares last traded at $59.6740, with a volume of 398,283 shares trading hands.

SYM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Northland Securities set a $73.00 price objective on Symbotic in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Symbotic in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Symbotic in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Symbotic in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Symbotic from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO James Kuffner sold 3,669 shares of Symbotic stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.84, for a total value of $208,545.96. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 151,061 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,586,307.24. The trade was a 2.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider William M. Boyd III sold 5,115 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.99, for a total transaction of $286,388.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 61,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,453,407.21. This trade represents a 7.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 178,492 shares of company stock valued at $10,313,214 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 8.16% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Symbotic

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barton Investment Management purchased a new position in Symbotic in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,640,000. Grove Street Fiduciary LLC raised its position in Symbotic by 314.4% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Street Fiduciary LLC now owns 35,000 shares of the company's stock worth $1,886,000 after buying an additional 26,555 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Symbotic during the 3rd quarter worth $1,919,000. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Symbotic by 32.4% in the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 589,887 shares of the company's stock worth $31,795,000 after acquiring an additional 144,389 shares during the period. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Symbotic by 156.7% in the 3rd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 93,751 shares of the company's stock worth $5,053,000 after acquiring an additional 57,224 shares during the period.

Symbotic Stock Up 5.5%

The firm has a market cap of $35.92 billion, a PE ratio of -596.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 2.10. The company's fifty day moving average price is $53.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.22.

Symbotic (NASDAQ:SYM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $629.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $622.58 million. Symbotic had a negative return on equity of 1.88% and a negative net margin of 0.45%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.03) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Symbotic Inc. will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Symbotic Company Profile

Symbotic Inc NASDAQ: SYM is a provider of advanced warehouse automation and robotics systems designed to improve throughput, space utilization and labor productivity in distribution centers and fulfillment operations. The company develops integrated hardware and software solutions that automate the storage, retrieval, sorting and palletizing of goods, positioning itself as a systems integrator for material handling challenges faced by large-scale retailers, wholesalers and third-party logistics providers.

Products and services typically include autonomous robotic vehicles and shuttle systems, automated storage-and-retrieval equipment, robotic picking and palletizing cells, conveyors and sortation, together with control and management software that coordinates fleet operations and inventory flow.

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