Royce & Associates LP Buys New Shares in J & J Snack Foods Corp. $JJSF

Royce & Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 327,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,596,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in JJSF. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in J & J Snack Foods by 485.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 275 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in J & J Snack Foods by 1,133.3% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 333 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in J & J Snack Foods by 1,450.0% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 341 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in J & J Snack Foods by 897.7% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 439 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in J & J Snack Foods by 902.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 351 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JJSF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark cut their price target on shares of J & J Snack Foods from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of J & J Snack Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $120.00.

J & J Snack Foods Stock Performance

NASDAQ:JJSF opened at $74.55 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $78.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.57. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.02 and a beta of 0.43. J & J Snack Foods Corp. has a 12 month low of $68.87 and a 12 month high of $129.24.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $344.82 million for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J & J Snack Foods announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign 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.