BellRing Brands (NYSE:BRBR) Now Covered by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of BellRing Brands (NYSE:BRBR) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on BRBR. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of BellRing Brands from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup lifted their price target on BellRing Brands from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho increased their price objective on BellRing Brands from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of BellRing Brands in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of BellRing Brands from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BellRing Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.13.

BellRing Brands Stock Up 4.2 %

NYSE:BRBR opened at $73.59 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.85. BellRing Brands has a 1-year low of $48.06 and a 1-year high of $80.67.

BellRing Brands (NYSE:BRBR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. BellRing Brands had a net margin of 13.32% and a negative return on equity of 130.14%. Equities analysts predict that BellRing Brands will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

BellRing Brands announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 6th that allows the company to repurchase $300.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at BellRing Brands

In other news, Director Robert V. Vitale sold 5,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.30, for a total transaction of $384,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,166,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,851,832.30. This represents a 0.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 218,636 shares of company stock worth $16,677,550 in the last 90 days. 1.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in BellRing Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,438,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,012,419,000 after purchasing an additional 135,105 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of BellRing Brands by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 6,701,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,903,000 after buying an additional 494,669 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in BellRing Brands by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,577,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,885,000 after buying an additional 96,991 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in BellRing Brands by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,266,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,121,691 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in BellRing Brands by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,886,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,001,000 after acquiring an additional 50,339 shares during the period. 94.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BellRing Brands Company Profile

BellRing Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides various nutrition products in the United States. The company offers ready-to-drink (RTD) protein shakes, other RTD beverages, powders, nutrition bars, and other products primarily under the Premier Protein and Dymatize brands. It distributes its products through club, food, drug, mass, eCommerce, specialty, and convenience channels.