TreeHouse Foods (NYSE:THS) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE:THS)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $33.26, but opened at $38.33. TreeHouse Foods shares last traded at $36.77, with a volume of 450,591 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on THS. Barclays raised their price objective on TreeHouse Foods from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com cut TreeHouse Foods from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on TreeHouse Foods from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial cut their target price on TreeHouse Foods from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Consumer Edge cut TreeHouse Foods from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, TreeHouse Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.40.

TreeHouse Foods Stock Up 9.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of -77.57 and a beta of 0.22.

TreeHouse Foods (NYSE:THS) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.02). TreeHouse Foods had a negative net margin of 0.72% and a positive return on equity of 5.94%. The business had revenue of $905.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $907.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. TreeHouse Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that TreeHouse Foods, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TreeHouse Foods

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in THS. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 90.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,219,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,363,000 after purchasing an additional 2,479,495 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of TreeHouse Foods during the third quarter valued at approximately $48,011,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of TreeHouse Foods during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,362,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 187.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 316,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,284,000 after acquiring an additional 206,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chartwell Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in TreeHouse Foods in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,042,000. 99.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About TreeHouse Foods

TreeHouse Foods, Inc manufactures and distributes private brands snacks and beverages in the United States and internationally. The company provides snacking products, such as crackers, pretzels, in-store bakery items, frozen griddle items, cookies, and candies; and beverage and drink mixes, including non-dairy creamer, coffee, broths/stocks, powdered beverages and other blends, tea, and ready-to-drink-beverages.