TreeHouse Foods Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:THS)

TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE:THS) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 2,995 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 298% compared to the average daily volume of 752 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $25.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of TreeHouse Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of TreeHouse Foods in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, TreeHouse Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

TreeHouse Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE THS traded up $4.58 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $23.63. The stock had a trading volume of 4,351,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 763,368. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of 60.39 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50 day moving average of $18.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.08. TreeHouse Foods has a twelve month low of $15.85 and a twelve month high of $40.77.

Institutional Trading of TreeHouse Foods

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 225,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,097,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in TreeHouse Foods by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $903,000 after purchasing an additional 1,830 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in TreeHouse Foods by 70.7% in the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 29,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $797,000 after purchasing an additional 12,177 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in TreeHouse Foods during the first quarter worth $298,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 238.3% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 26,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,000 after buying an additional 18,639 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.81% of the company’s stock.

About TreeHouse Foods

TreeHouse Foods, Inc manufactures and distributes private brands snacks and beverages in the United States and internationally. The company provides snacking products, such as crackers, pretzels, in-store bakery items, frozen griddle items, cookies, and candies; and beverage and drink mixes, including non-dairy creamer, coffee, broths/stocks, powdered beverages and other blends, tea, and ready-to-drink-beverages.