Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) Rating Increased to Buy at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America upgraded Chewy from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $40.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Chewy from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Chewy in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Chewy in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Chewy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Chewy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.80.

Chewy Stock Up 2.1 %

Chewy stock opened at $37.99 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $34.22 and a 200-day moving average of $29.89. Chewy has a 52-week low of $14.69 and a 52-week high of $39.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.75, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 1.10.

Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.86 billion. Chewy had a return on equity of 24.47% and a net margin of 3.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.08) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Chewy will post 0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Satish Mehta sold 8,056 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.47, for a total transaction of $269,634.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 585,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,612,148.14. The trade was a 1.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Argos Holdings Gp Llc sold 19,827,242 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.32, for a total value of $620,989,219.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,090,041 shares of company stock valued at $915,948,068. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oak Harvest Investment Services bought a new stake in shares of Chewy during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,245,000. Legacy Trust raised its position in shares of Chewy by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Trust now owns 128,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,287,000 after buying an additional 11,495 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Chewy by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Chewy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $716,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Chewy by 86.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 3,474 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

About Chewy

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.