Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Lowers Stock Position in Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 96,054 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,548 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.20% of Freshpet worth $14,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its position in Freshpet by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 16,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,409,000 after acquiring an additional 2,657 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freshpet in the 4th quarter valued at about $247,000. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freshpet by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Freshpet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,652,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,090,000 after buying an additional 46,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Freshpet during the fourth quarter worth about $1,422,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Freshpet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Oppenheimer downgraded Freshpet from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Freshpet from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Freshpet from $154.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Freshpet from $155.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.67.

Freshpet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FRPT opened at $84.39 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.76. Freshpet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.27 and a 52 week high of $164.07. The company has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.78 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a quick ratio of 3.91, a current ratio of 4.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36. Freshpet had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 3.92%. The company had revenue of $262.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.46 million. Equities 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.