Blue Buffalo Pet Products Inc. (NASDAQ:BUFF) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday.
According to Zacks, “Blue Buffalo Pet Products, Inc. develops, produces, markets and sells pet food primarily in the United States. The Company’s product lines include BLUE Life Protection Formula, BLUE Wilderness, BLUE Basics, BLUE Freedom and BLUE Naturally Fresh line. It offers dry foods, wet foods as well as treats for puppies, adult dogs, senior dogs and litters for kittens, adult cats and mature cats. Blue Buffalo Pet Products, Inc. is headquartered in Wilton, Connecticut. “
A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup Inc. raised their price target on shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 11th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products in a research report on Wednesday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. assumed coverage on shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products in a research report on Thursday, September 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products in a research report on Wednesday, August 10th. Finally, Susquehanna assumed coverage on shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products in a research report on Monday, October 24th. They set a “positive” rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Blue Buffalo Pet Products has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.50.
Shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products (NASDAQ:BUFF) traded down 1.441% during midday trading on Monday, reaching $22.235. 1,505,093 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. Blue Buffalo Pet Products has a 52-week low of $15.19 and a 52-week high of $27.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $24.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.09. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.874 and a beta of 2.27.
Blue Buffalo Pet Products (NASDAQ:BUFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 10th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. Blue Buffalo Pet Products had a net margin of 9.38% and a return on equity of 321.89%. The company had revenue of $288 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.29 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Blue Buffalo Pet Products will post $0.79 earnings per share for the current year.
In other Blue Buffalo Pet Products news, CEO Kurt Schmidt sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.83, for a total transaction of $1,241,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 103,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,571,667.93. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director L.P. Invus sold 12,512,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.83, for a total transaction of $310,676,038.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 10.30% of the company’s stock.
Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 112.9% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 6,237 shares in the last quarter. First Mercantile Trust Co. raised its stake in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 51.7% in the second quarter. First Mercantile Trust Co. now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 4,600 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company N.A. raised its stake in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 7.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company N.A. now owns 1,095,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,098,000 after buying an additional 78,581 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 279.7% in the first quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 119,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,987,000 after buying an additional 87,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 30.6% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 247,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,781,000 after buying an additional 58,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.94% of the company’s stock.
Blue Buffalo Pet Products Company Profile
Blue Buffalo Pet Products, Inc (BBPP) is a holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, develops, produces, markets and sells pet food under the BLUE Life Protection Formula, BLUE Wilderness, BLUE Basics, BLUE Freedom and BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet lines. Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd. (Blue), Blue Buffalo Import Mexico, S.