Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Chewy, Inc. (NYSE:CHWY)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $39.25 and last traded at $39.19, with a volume of 1437912 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $38.00.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CHWY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded Chewy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Chewy in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upgraded shares of Chewy from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Chewy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Chewy from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.80.

Chewy Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $15.98 billion, a PE ratio of 43.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.95.

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

Insider Activity at Chewy

In other Chewy news, major shareholder Argos Holdings Gp Llc sold 19,827,242 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.32, for a total value of $620,989,219.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumit Singh sold 71,161 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $2,312,732.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 77,838 shares in the company, valued at $2,529,735. This trade represents a 47.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,090,041 shares of company stock valued at $915,948,068. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Chewy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Chewy by 166.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,995,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,023,000 after acquiring an additional 2,497,689 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Chewy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,798,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Chewy by 97.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,972,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,485,000 after buying an additional 975,647 shares during the last quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Chewy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $17,756,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Chewy in the third quarter worth approximately $13,699,000. 93.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.