Wall Street Zen Downgrades Petco Health and Wellness (NASDAQ:WOOF) to Hold

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Petco Health and Wellness (NASDAQ:WOOF) from a "buy" to a "hold," and the stock's overall analyst mix is mixed with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $4.04.
• Fundamentals show the stock opened at $2.94 with a market cap of about $947M, a 52-week range of $2.24–$4.51 and a high P/E of 98; the company missed quarterly EPS at ($0.01) versus $0.02 while reporting $1.52 billion in revenue, down 2.4% year-over-year and net margin of 0.15%.
• Several large institutional investors have been increasing positions recently, including Dimensional Fund Advisors, Vanguard, Holocene Advisors, Nuveen and Goldman Sachs, signaling notable hedge-fund and asset-manager interest despite mixed analyst views.

Petco Health and Wellness (NASDAQ:WOOF - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Petco Health and Wellness from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $4.05 to $5.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of Petco Health and Wellness from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Petco Health and Wellness in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Petco Health and Wellness from $3.50 to $4.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Petco Health and Wellness from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $3.83 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $4.04.

Petco Health and Wellness Stock Down 1.7%

WOOF stock opened at $2.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Petco Health and Wellness has a fifty-two week low of $2.24 and a fifty-two week high of $4.51. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $2.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.96. The stock has a market cap of $947.11 million, a PE ratio of 98.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.62.

Petco Health and Wellness (NASDAQ:WOOF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 11th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Petco Health and Wellness had a net margin of 0.15% and a return on equity of 0.89%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.05) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Petco Health and Wellness will post 0.07 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Petco Health and Wellness

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Petco Health and Wellness by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,455,494 shares of the company's stock worth $26,571,000 after purchasing an additional 143,688 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Petco Health and Wellness by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,416,496 shares of the company's stock worth $32,572,000 after purchasing an additional 621,026 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Petco Health and Wellness by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 6,091,656 shares of the company's stock worth $23,575,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800,583 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC grew its stake in shares of Petco Health and Wellness by 81.9% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 3,998,724 shares of the company's stock worth $11,236,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Petco Health and Wellness by 60.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,637,695 shares of the company's stock worth $11,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367,299 shares during the last quarter.

About Petco Health and Wellness

Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc NASDAQ: WOOF is a leading U.S. pet specialty retailer focused on delivering products, services and solutions that improve the health and well-being of pets. The company operates a network of retail locations that provide high-quality pet food, supplies and accessories, along with a growing digital platform that supports online ordering, subscription delivery and telehealth consultations for pets.

In addition to its retail offerings, Petco has built a full suite of in-store and virtual services, including grooming, training, dog daycare and veterinary care.

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