D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE:THS)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE:THS - Free Report) by 96.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 343,086 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 168,365 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.67% of TreeHouse Foods worth $12,053,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of TreeHouse Foods during the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,362,000. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of TreeHouse Foods during the fourth quarter worth approximately $333,000. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 297.4% during the fourth quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 85,256 shares of the company's stock worth $2,858,000 after acquiring an additional 63,804 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 502,601 shares of the company's stock worth $17,656,000 after acquiring an additional 28,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 7.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 337,657 shares of the company's stock worth $14,175,000 after acquiring an additional 21,951 shares in the last quarter. 99.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TreeHouse Foods Trading Up 2.5%

NYSE:THS traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $23.32. The company had a trading volume of 497,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 606,863. The company has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 43.19 and a beta of 0.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $24.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.57. TreeHouse Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.63 and a 52 week high of $43.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

TreeHouse Foods (NYSE:THS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.24. TreeHouse Foods had a net margin of 0.80% and a return on equity of 6.42%. The firm had revenue of $792.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $789.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.03) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that TreeHouse Foods, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on THS shares. Barclays cut their target price on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $32.00 to $27.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of TreeHouse Foods from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, TreeHouse Foods presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.83.

Insider Activity

In other TreeHouse Foods news, CEO Steven Oakland bought 4,660 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.46 per share, for a total transaction of $100,003.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 369,521 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,929,920.66. This represents a 1.28% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jana Partners Management, Lp bought 17,678 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $23.09 per share, for a total transaction of $408,185.02. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,482,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,587,161.33. This represents a 0.32% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 147,123 shares of company stock worth $3,234,741. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

TreeHouse Foods Profile

TreeHouse Foods, Inc manufactures and distributes private brands snacks and beverages in the United States and internationally. The company provides snacking products, such as crackers, pretzels, in-store bakery items, frozen griddle items, cookies, and candies; and beverage and drink mixes, including non-dairy creamer, coffee, broths/stocks, powdered beverages and other blends, tea, and ready-to-drink-beverages.