The Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX: BGA) share price is edging higher this afternoon. This comes after the Australian manufacturer saw a massive buy-up of its shares today from Fortescue CEO Andrew Forrest.
At the time of writing, Bega Cheese shares are up 3% at $5.49 apiece.
Cue the cheese jokes…
Fortescue CEO carves his slice of Bega
Under Forrest's investment company, Tattarang Agrifood Investments, more than 20 million shares in the company have been secured, amounting to more than $108 million.
The massive order was placed on 10 November and was finalised yesterday.
This amounts to a 6.61% stake in the company — making Forrest the fourth largest shareholder behind Ethical Partners Funds Management, Fil Investment Management Australia, and Vinva Investment Management.
This comes following a trading update given by Bega Cheese on 23 December, reporting strong local and international demand, and normalised earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) for FY22 to be between $195 million and $215 million (FY21 was $145 million).
Despite alternative milks becoming ever more popular, and with the company reporting costs and supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bega Cheese remained positive in its report, with product goals "on target".
However, the Bega Cheese share price dropped by around 12% on the release of the news.
Bega Cheese share price snapshot
Bega Cheese is one of the better-performing stocks today, climbing as high as $5.56 earlier in the day.
The Bega Cheese share price has seen a fairly stable year, seeing an increase of almost 7%.
The manufacturer has a market capitalisation of more than $1.5 billion. It has over 300 million shares issued and a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 20.
