DA Davidson Has Lowered Expectations for Medifast (NYSE:MED) Stock Price

Medifast (NYSE:MED) had its price objective decreased by stock analysts at DA Davidson from $17.00 to $16.50 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. DA Davidson’s price target suggests a potential upside of 15.06% from the company’s current price.

Medifast Price Performance

Shares of MED opened at $14.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.67 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.99. Medifast has a twelve month low of $13.57 and a twelve month high of $44.72. The company has a current ratio of 3.11, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Medifast (NYSE:MED) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty retailer reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $119.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.25 million. Medifast had a return on equity of 10.66% and a net margin of 0.35%. Equities analysts forecast that Medifast will post 0.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Medifast

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Medifast by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 17,106 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 674 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Medifast by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 101,775 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,793,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP boosted its stake in Medifast by 6.3% in the third quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 15,238 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Medifast by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 6,459 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Medifast by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 245,929 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.51% of the company’s stock.

About Medifast

Medifast, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of weight loss, weight management, and healthy living products in the United States and the Asia-Pacific. It offers bars, puffs, cereal, crunchers, drinks, hearty choices, oatmeal, pancakes, pudding, soft serve, shakes, smoothies, soft bakes, and soups under the OPTAVIA, OPTAVIA ACTIVE, and Optimal Health brand names.