Argus Upgrades Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) to “Buy”

Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) was upgraded by stock analysts at Argus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday,Finviz reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Chewy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $34.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Chewy from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Chewy from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Chewy in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Chewy in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.80.

Chewy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CHWY opened at $37.20 on Thursday. Chewy has a 12 month low of $14.69 and a 12 month high of $39.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.89. The firm has a market cap of $15.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.88, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 1.10.

Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.15. Chewy had a net margin of 3.51% and a return on equity of 24.47%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Chewy will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Chewy news, major shareholder Argos Holdings Gp Llc sold 19,827,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.32, for a total value of $620,989,219.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumit Singh sold 4,000 shares of Chewy stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.52, for a total transaction of $150,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,457,159.12. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,090,041 shares of company stock worth $915,948,068 in the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Chewy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Chewy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $716,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Chewy by 86.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 3,474 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Chewy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $86,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Chewy by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Chewy by 83.0% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 979 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Chewy Company Profile

Chewy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the pure play e-commerce business in the United States. It provides pet food and treats, pet supplies and pet medications, and other pet-health products, as well as pet services for dogs, cats, fish, birds, small pets, horses, and reptiles through its retail websites and mobile applications.