Post Holdings, Inc. $POST Shares Purchased by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST) by 66.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,242 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,294 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Post were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Post during the first quarter valued at $34,528,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Post by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,418,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $630,448,000 after purchasing an additional 277,786 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Post by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 915,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,526,000 after purchasing an additional 191,081 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Post by 27.1% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 511,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,506,000 after buying an additional 109,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Post by 3.2% in the first quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,364,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,494,000 after buying an additional 105,325 shares during the last quarter. 94.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Post Trading Down 7.5%

Shares of POST opened at $99.01 on Friday. Post Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $98.90 and a twelve month high of $125.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.89.

Post (NYSE:POST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. Post had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 4.62%.The firm’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Post Holdings, Inc. will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Post declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, August 29th that allows the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Post from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Post from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Post from $131.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Post in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Post from $117.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.00.

About Post

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.