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

Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Argus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Finviz reports.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on CHWY. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Chewy from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Chewy from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup raised shares of Chewy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Chewy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Chewy from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.80.

Chewy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of CHWY stock opened at $37.20 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $15.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 1.10. Chewy has a 52 week low of $14.69 and a 52 week high of $39.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.22 and a 200-day moving average of $29.89.

Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) last posted 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 business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. Chewy’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Chewy will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Chewy

In other news, CTO Satish Mehta sold 168,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.32, for a total transaction of $6,105,573.60. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 417,857 shares in the company, valued at $15,176,566.24. This represents a 28.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sumit Singh sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.52, for a total value of $150,080.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,457,159.12. This represents a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 28,090,041 shares of company stock worth $915,948,068. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chewy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CHWY. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Chewy by 83.0% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Chewy by 183.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares in the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Chewy during the third quarter worth about $52,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Chewy during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Chewy during the third quarter worth about $63,000. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.