J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $84.59, but opened at $78.35. J & J Snack Foods shares last traded at $78.2350, with a volume of 19,365 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JJSF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research lowered J & J Snack Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.00.

J & J Snack Foods Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.11.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.01. J & J Snack Foods had a return on equity of 8.79% and a net margin of 3.92%.The business had revenue of $344.82 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $349.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 4.35 EPS for the current year.

J & J Snack Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th were given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. J & J Snack Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 101.91%.

J & J Snack Foods announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 3rd that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of J & J Snack Foods

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in JJSF. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,000,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,822,000 after purchasing an additional 31,612 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,739,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,451,000 after purchasing an additional 26,975 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 544,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,143 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 19.9% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 404,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,865,000 after purchasing an additional 67,028 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 382,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909 shares during the period. 76.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

J & J Snack Foods Company Profile

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ: JJSF) is a U.S.-based manufacturer and distributor of branded snack foods and frozen beverages. Headquartered in Pennsauken, New Jersey, the company develops, produces and markets a broad array of proprietary and licensed products for retail, concession and foodservice customers. Its offerings span soft pretzels, frozen novelties, real Italian ice, churros and packaged beverages under well-known names such as ICEE, SuperPretzel, Luigi’s and ChurroMan.

Founded in 1971 by Gerald B.