Kennedy Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Post Holdings, Inc. $POST

Kennedy Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST) by 9.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 138,554 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,880 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC owned about 0.25% of Post worth $15,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Post in the first quarter valued at $623,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Post by 6.3% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Post by 276.8% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 11,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,214,000 after acquiring an additional 8,183 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Post by 21.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Post by 11,336.7% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 5,555 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.85% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Post

In related news, Director David W. Kemper purchased 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $97.93 per share, for a total transaction of $176,274.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 31,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,086,949.46. This trade represents a 6.06% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Post Price Performance

Shares of Post stock opened at $99.67 on Thursday. Post Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.34 and a 52 week high of $125.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97. The stock has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a PE ratio of 18.19 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $105.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.34.

Post (NYSE:POST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.20. Post had a net margin of 4.11% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The business had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Post Holdings, Inc. will post 6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Post declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, August 29th that permits the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on POST. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Post from $131.00 to $129.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Post in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered Post from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 23rd. Zacks Research cut Post from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Post from $122.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.33.

Post Profile

Post Holdings, Inc operates as a consumer packaged goods holding company in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Post Consumer Brands, Weetabix, Foodservice, and Refrigerated Retail. The Post Consumer Brands segment manufactures, markets, and sells branded and private label ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals under Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles, and Malt-O-Meal brand names; hot cereal; peanut butter under the Peter Pan brand; and branded and private label dog and cat food products under Rachael Ray Nutrish, Nature's Recipe, 9Lives, Kibbles 'n Bits and Gravy Train brand names.