Weight Watchers International, Inc. Stock Jumps on M&A Rumors

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Weight WatchersWeight Watchers International, Inc. (NYSE:WTW) is rising as rumors of a potential buyout persist.

The Oprah Winfrey-backed company has seen its fair share of woes over the last year, leading investors to believe shares are moving Monday due to an impending buyout. Details of such a move have not been made public.

Another reason for the stock’s Wednesday surge could be related to a round of short covering. Weight Watchers announced plans to search for a new CEO on September 12 of this year.

On September 30, James Chambers informed the Board of Directors that he was resigning as CEO. Until a new boss is appointed, the interim Office of the Chief Executive Officer will be in charge, consisting of Chief Financial Officer Nicholas Hotchkin, Director Thilo Semmelbauer and Director Christopher Sobecki.

Several analysts have upgraded their rating on WTW stock, including Wedbush analysts, who reiterated their “neutral” rating on the stock with a price target of $20.

Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS) reiterated their $14 price target on Weight Watchers while maintaining their “equal weight” rating on the stock.

Credit Suisse Group (ADR) (NYSE:CS) kept their “underperform” rating on the stock, with a $10 price target on it. Meanwhile, Thomson Reuters/Verus upgraded the stock to a “buy.”

Weight Watchers was rated as a “neutral” by analysts at Zacks, who issued a price target of $24.3 on the stock.

WTW stock is up 7.4% Wednesday.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2016/10/weight-watchers-wtw-stock-2/.

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