American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 49,605 Shares of Medifast, Inc. (NYSE:MED)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Medifast, Inc. (NYSE:MED) by 327.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,761 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,605 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.59% of Medifast worth $4,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Medifast by 30,800.0% in the second quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 309 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Point72 Middle East FZE purchased a new stake in shares of Medifast in the fourth quarter worth $57,000. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Medifast by 223.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 531 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Medifast during the 2nd quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Medifast by 114.6% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 648 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. 95.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Medifast Stock Up 1.3 %

MED opened at $37.55 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $409.30 million, a PE ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 1.15. Medifast, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.09 and a 52 week high of $109.52. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.60.

Medifast (NYSE:MED) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.10. Medifast had a return on equity of 56.06% and a net margin of 9.27%. The business had revenue of $191.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.17 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Medifast, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Medifast news, Director Scott Schlackman sold 4,053 shares of Medifast stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.44, for a total value of $159,850.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $307,040.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MED. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Medifast from $67.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. TheStreet cut Medifast from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st.

Medifast Company Profile

Medifast, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of weight loss, weight management, and healthy living products in the United States and the Asia-Pacific. It offers bars, puffs, cereal, crunchers, drinks, hearty choices, oatmeal, pancakes, pudding, soft serve, shakes, smoothies, soft bakes, and soups under the OPTAVIA, OPTAVIA ACTIVE, and Optimal Health brand names.