D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Raises Position in Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST) by 81.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 119,751 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 53,873 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.21% of Post worth $13,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Post by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Post by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of Post in the fourth quarter worth about $984,000. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Post during the 4th quarter valued at about $292,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Post by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

POST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Post from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Post from $124.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.20.

Post Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:POST opened at $108.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $113.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.67. Post Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.70 and a 52-week high of $125.84.

Post (NYSE:POST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.23. Post had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 4.94%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.51 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Post Holdings, Inc. will post 6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Post

In other news, CAO Diedre J. Gray sold 15,157 shares of Post stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.80, for a total value of $1,755,180.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 19,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,237,835. The trade was a 43.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Bradly A. Harper sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.59, for a total transaction of $229,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,001,631.19. The trade was a 18.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,157 shares of company stock valued at $3,139,361 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.