J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) Hits New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Friday after Zacks Research downgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong sell rating. The company traded as low as $73.53 and last traded at $76.5670, with a volume of 53505 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $75.71.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on JJSF. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, J & J Snack Foods has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $130.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J & J Snack Foods

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in JJSF. Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,596,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 295.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 171,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,518,000 after purchasing an additional 128,301 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 962.0% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 107,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,301,000 after acquiring an additional 97,108 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 3,379.2% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 87,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,864,000 after acquiring an additional 84,515 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 624,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,468,000 after acquiring an additional 79,093 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.04% of the company’s stock.

J & J Snack Foods Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $81.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.99. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.56 and a beta of 0.43.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $344.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.67 million. J & J Snack Foods had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 9.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

J & J Snack Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. J & J Snack Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 107.38%.

J & J Snack Foods announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About J & J Snack Foods

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.