Insider Selling: Warby Parker (NYSE:WRBY) CEO Sells 217,667 Shares

Warby Parker Inc. (NYSE:WRBY) CEO Neil Harris Blumenthal sold 217,667 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.61, for a total value of $6,445,119.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 31,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,226.32. The trade was a 87.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Neil Harris Blumenthal also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 29th, Neil Harris Blumenthal sold 36,300 shares of Warby Parker stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.04, for a total value of $1,090,452.00.
• On Tuesday, May 19th, Neil Harris Blumenthal sold 63,040 shares of Warby Parker stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.03, for a total transaction of $1,893,091.20.
• On Monday, April 20th, Neil Harris Blumenthal sold 22,442 shares of Warby Parker stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.09, for a total transaction of $563,069.78.
• On Friday, April 17th, Neil Harris Blumenthal sold 75,213 shares of Warby Parker stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.56, for a total value of $1,847,231.28.
• On Thursday, April 16th, Neil Harris Blumenthal sold 2,345 shares of Warby Parker stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.08, for a total transaction of $56,467.60.

Warby Parker Trading Down 0.7%

Warby Parker stock traded down $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $29.18. 2,157,410 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,849,805. Warby Parker Inc. has a 1 year low of $14.96 and a 1 year high of $31.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.89. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,459.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.91.

Warby Parker (NYSE:WRBY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.08). Warby Parker had a net margin of 0.15% and a return on equity of 2.30%. The firm had revenue of $242.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.44 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.03 EPS. Warby Parker’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Warby Parker Inc. will post 0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warby Parker

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Warby Parker by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 9,679,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,907,000 after purchasing an additional 2,375,726 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Warby Parker by 31.3% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 3,028,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,806,000 after buying an additional 722,627 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Warby Parker by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,594,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,527,000 after buying an additional 381,071 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Warby Parker by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,408,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,484,000 after buying an additional 202,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Warby Parker by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,064,000 after acquiring an additional 11,736 shares during the last quarter. 93.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on WRBY. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Warby Parker from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Bank of America started coverage on Warby Parker in a research report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on shares of Warby Parker from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Warby Parker from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Warby Parker in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.82.

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.