Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) Stock

Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) had its price objective hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $38.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. BNP Paribas cut Chewy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup upgraded Chewy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Chewy from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Chewy from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Chewy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.80.

Chewy Trading Up 3.7 %

CHWY opened at $37.38 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.40. Chewy has a 1 year low of $14.69 and a 1 year high of $39.10. The stock has a market cap of $15.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.08, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.10.

Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.86 billion. Chewy had a net margin of 3.51% and a return on equity of 24.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.08) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Chewy will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Satish Mehta sold 8,056 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.47, for a total value of $269,634.32. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 585,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,612,148.14. The trade was a 1.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumit Singh sold 71,161 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total value of $2,312,732.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 77,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,529,735. This represents a 47.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,971,911 shares of company stock worth $911,495,287. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chewy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BC Partners Advisors L.P. bought a new position in Chewy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,517,800,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Chewy by 166.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,995,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,023,000 after buying an additional 2,497,689 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Chewy by 1,028.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,892,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,636,526 shares during the last quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Chewy by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 2,765,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,014,000 after acquiring an additional 138,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Chewy by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,521,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,693,000 after acquiring an additional 200,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Chewy Company Profile

Chewy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the pure play e-commerce business in the United States. It provides pet food and treats, pet supplies and pet medications, and other pet-health products, as well as pet services for dogs, cats, fish, birds, small pets, horses, and reptiles through its retail websites and mobile applications.