DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Reduces Stock Holdings in Medifast, Inc. (NYSE:MED)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lowered its position in Medifast, Inc. (NYSE:MED) by 45.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,932 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 6,567 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.07% of Medifast worth $536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MED. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Medifast by 437.5% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,550 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after acquiring an additional 11,843 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Medifast by 4.5% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 1,488 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Medifast by 3.4% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its stake in shares of Medifast by 7.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 3,077 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $526,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Medifast by 19.1% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 13,490 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,304,000 after acquiring an additional 2,166 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MED has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Medifast from $67.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. TheStreet lowered Medifast from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st.

Medifast Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MED opened at $31.35 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.29. Medifast, Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.95 and a 12-month high of $109.52. The firm has a market cap of $341.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.14.

Medifast (NYSE:MED) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $191.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.17 million. Medifast had a return on equity of 56.06% and a net margin of 9.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 43.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.70 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Medifast, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Medifast

In other news, Director Scott Schlackman sold 4,053 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.44, for a total value of $159,850.32. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,785 shares in the company, valued at approximately $307,040.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.06% 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.