Hostess Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWNK) Shares Sold by Putnam Investments LLC

Putnam Investments LLC cut its stake in shares of Hostess Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWNK) by 44.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 132,289 shares of the company’s stock after selling 104,039 shares during the quarter. Putnam Investments LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Hostess Brands worth $3,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Hostess Brands by 11.5% during the first quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 1,159 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Hostess Brands by 4.9% during the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in Hostess Brands by 33.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 120,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,987,000 after purchasing an additional 30,059 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp purchased a new stake in Hostess Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its stake in Hostess Brands by 51.1% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 47,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 16,060 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TWNK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Hostess Brands from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 9th. TD Cowen started coverage on Hostess Brands in a research note on Wednesday, September 13th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $34.00 target price for the company. Consumer Edge cut Hostess Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 12th. StockNews.com cut Hostess Brands from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Hostess Brands from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.03.

Hostess Brands Price Performance

Hostess Brands stock opened at $33.37 on Monday. Hostess Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.59 and a 12 month high of $33.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 26.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.61.

Hostess Brands (NASDAQ:TWNK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. Hostess Brands had a return on equity of 7.82% and a net margin of 12.28%. The business had revenue of $352.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Hostess Brands, Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Hostess Brands Company Profile

Hostess Brands, Inc develops, manufactures, markets, sells, and distributes snack products in the United States and Canada. The company provides a range of snack cakes, donuts, sweet rolls, breakfast pastries, cookies, snack pies, sweet baked goods, wafers, bread and buns, danishes, honey buns, coffee cakes, and sugar-free products.