According to a separate 13G filing, Steven Boyd’s Armistice Capital currently holds a stake of 2.02 million shares in Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT), which compares with the 1.12 million-share position it reported via the latest round of 13F filings. The freshly-upped stake now represents 6.0% of the company’s outstanding shares. Freshpet, which was started “with a single-minded mission to bring the power of natural, fresh food to our dogs and cats”, has lost investor interest since its 2014 IPO, with the company’s financial performance being particularly disappointing to most investors. Earlier this month, Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) reported a net loss per share of $0.05 on revenues of $30.6 million, while analysts had anticipated the company to post a net loss per share of $0.04 on revenues of $32.56 million. Additionally, the company slashed its revenue guidance for 2015, and now anticipates full-year revenue in the range of $115.5 million-to-$117 million. A recent filing with the SEC discloses that the company has kicked off a capital expansion project at its Freshpet Kitchens manufacturing facility in order to increase its plant capacity and boost distribution, but it is highly unlikely that the current demand for its products necessitates production capacity expansion.
The hedge fund sentiment towards the stock did not change during the third quarter, as the number of smart money investors with positions in the company remained unchanged at six. However, these hedge funds amassed 8.80% of Freshpet’s outstanding common stock as of September 30, while the value of their positions climbed to $30.92 million from $25.17 million quarter-over-quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC holds nearly 558,000 shares of Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) as of the end of September.
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A freshly-filed Form 4 reveals that Barry Rosenstein of JANA Partners cashed out 1.45 million shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) on Thursday and Friday, at prices in the range of $81.97-to-$83.04 per share. After the recent sizable sell-off, the investment firm holds an ownership stake of 12.30 million shares. Shares of the pharmacy-led health and wellbeing enterprise are nearly 9% in the green year-to-date and are trading at a fair trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 20.58, which compares with the ratio of 23.12 for the S&P 500 Index. The retail pharmacy and pharmaceutical wholesale industries have witnessed strong consolidation in the past several years, and Walgreens has been a part of that wave of activity. The increase in the number of people with insurance coverage for prescription drugs, which has been partially boosted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is set to benefit Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) in the future. Furthermore, baby boomers, who are becoming eligible for the federally-funded Medicare Part D prescription program, will also assist Walgreens’ future growth.
Walgreens’ stock received more attention from the hedge funds tracked by our team in the third quarter, with the number of smart money investors with positions in the company increasing to 91 from 81 quarter-over-quarter. Similarly, the value of these positions grew to $9.52 billion from $9.13 billion during the three-month period. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global owns 23.27 million shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) as of September 30.
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