Jennison Associates LLC Cuts Position in Warby Parker Inc. $WRBY

Jennison Associates LLC cut its stake in Warby Parker Inc. (NYSE:WRBY) by 51.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 965,275 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,021,921 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.91% of Warby Parker worth $21,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRBY. First Horizon Corp grew its position in Warby Parker by 96.7% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Warby Parker by 259.3% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Warby Parker in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Warby Parker by 56.7% in the third quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Warby Parker in the third quarter worth $112,000. 93.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRBY has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Warby Parker in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Warby Parker in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Warby Parker from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Warby Parker from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.09.

Warby Parker Stock Up 4.6%

NYSE WRBY opened at $23.13 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.04. Warby Parker Inc. has a 12-month low of $14.96 and a 12-month high of $31.00. The firm has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,157.18 and a beta of 1.96.

Insider Activity

In other Warby Parker news, CEO Neil Harris Blumenthal sold 22,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.09, for a total transaction of $563,069.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,165 shares in the company, valued at $1,258,639.85. This represents a 30.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bradley E. Singer sold 15,793 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.53, for a total transaction of $434,781.29. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $441,195.78. This trade represents a 49.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 115,793 shares of company stock valued at $2,901,550. Company insiders own 18.24% of the company’s stock.

Warby Parker Company Profile

Warby Parker, Inc (NYSE: WRBY) is a U.S.-based eyewear company that designs, manufactures and sells prescription glasses, sunglasses and contact lenses through a direct-to-consumer model. Since its founding, the company has combined online and brick-and-mortar channels to streamline the customer experience, offering features such as virtual try-on technology and a home try-on program that allows consumers to sample frames before purchase.

Established in 2010 by Wharton graduates Neil Blumenthal, Dave Gilboa, Andrew Hunt and Jeffrey Raider, Warby Parker set out to disrupt the traditional optical market by controlling the entire supply chain—from frame design and lens production to warehousing and distribution.