Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Purchases Shares of 22,625 Warby Parker Inc. $WRBY

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in Warby Parker Inc. (NYSE:WRBY) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 22,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Warby Parker in the third quarter valued at $2,184,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Warby Parker by 28.3% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 385,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,618,000 after buying an additional 85,000 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Warby Parker by 40.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,303,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,426,000 after buying an additional 2,120,768 shares during the last quarter. Udine Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Warby Parker during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,284,000. Finally, Kingdon Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Warby Parker during the third quarter valued at about $9,653,000. 93.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Neil Harris Blumenthal sold 75,213 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.56, for a total value of $1,847,231.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 50,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,232,052.40. This represents a 59.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bradley E. Singer sold 20,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.51, for a total value of $574,961.17. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 104,833 shares in the company, valued at $2,988,788.83. This trade represents a 16.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 203,833 shares of company stock worth $5,509,808 in the last three months. Insiders own 16.80% of the company’s stock.

Warby Parker Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of WRBY stock opened at $25.10 on Tuesday. Warby Parker Inc. has a 12 month low of $14.96 and a 12 month high of $31.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,255.63 and a beta of 1.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $23.70 and its 200 day moving average is $23.61.

Warby Parker (NYSE:WRBY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.08). Warby Parker had a return on equity of 2.30% and a net margin of 0.15%.The firm had revenue of $242.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $239.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Warby Parker Inc. will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WRBY shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Warby Parker from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Warby Parker from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Warby Parker in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on shares of Warby Parker from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Warby Parker from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

Warby Parker Company Profile

Warby Parker, Inc (NYSE: WRBY) is a U.S.-based eyewear company that designs, manufactures and sells prescription glasses, sunglasses and contact lenses through a direct-to-consumer model. Since its founding, the company has combined online and brick-and-mortar channels to streamline the customer experience, offering features such as virtual try-on technology and a home try-on program that allows consumers to sample frames before purchase.

Established in 2010 by Wharton graduates Neil Blumenthal, Dave Gilboa, Andrew Hunt and Jeffrey Raider, Warby Parker set out to disrupt the traditional optical market by controlling the entire supply chain—from frame design and lens production to warehousing and distribution.