Symbotic (NASDAQ:SYM) Shares Down 6.4% After Insider Selling

Symbotic Inc. (NASDAQ:SYM) shares were down 6.4% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $55.37 and last traded at $55.2210. Approximately 1,148,967 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 1,653,782 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.99.

Specifically, insider Maria G. Freve sold 6,667 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.99, for a total value of $399,953.33. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $530,611.55. The trade was a 42.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO James Kuffner sold 77,321 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.76, for a total value of $4,620,702.96. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 144,982 shares in the company, valued at $8,664,124.32. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SYM shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Symbotic from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Symbotic in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Symbotic from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Symbotic in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Northcoast Research downgraded Symbotic from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.79.

Symbotic Trading Up 2.0%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.12. The firm has a market cap of $33.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -374.67, a P/E/G ratio of 15.63 and a beta of 2.13.

Symbotic (NASDAQ:SYM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 24th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $618.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $604.00 million. Symbotic had a negative return on equity of 3.89% and a negative net margin of 0.75%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Symbotic Inc. will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Symbotic

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Symbotic by 47.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,932,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $412,463,000 after acquiring an additional 2,237,137 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Symbotic during the third quarter valued at about $34,296,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Symbotic by 1,108.8% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 330,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,687,000 after purchasing an additional 303,510 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Symbotic by 3,188.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 274,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,777,000 after buying an additional 265,819 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Symbotic by 626.4% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 274,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,778,000 after buying an additional 236,435 shares in the last quarter.

About Symbotic

Symbotic Inc (NASDAQ: SYM) is a provider of advanced warehouse automation and robotics systems designed to improve throughput, space utilization and labor productivity in distribution centers and fulfillment operations. The company develops integrated hardware and software solutions that automate the storage, retrieval, sorting and palletizing of goods, positioning itself as a systems integrator for material handling challenges faced by large-scale retailers, wholesalers and third-party logistics providers.

Products and services typically include autonomous robotic vehicles and shuttle systems, automated storage-and-retrieval equipment, robotic picking and palletizing cells, conveyors and sortation, together with control and management software that coordinates fleet operations and inventory flow.