J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Friday . The company traded as low as $82.19 and last traded at $81.9850, with a volume of 66164 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $83.67.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on JJSF. Zacks Research upgraded J & J Snack Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of J & J Snack Foods from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of J & J Snack Foods from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned 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 $142.50.

J & J Snack Foods Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $97.09 and its 200 day moving average is $109.90.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.26. J & J Snack Foods had a return on equity of 8.79% and a net margin of 5.24%.The business had revenue of $454.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

J & J Snack Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a boost from J & J Snack Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. J & J Snack Foods’s payout ratio is currently 74.59%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J & J Snack Foods

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of JJSF. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in J & J Snack Foods by 21.1% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 610,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,412,000 after purchasing an additional 106,459 shares in the last quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in J & J Snack Foods by 52.4% during the second quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 200,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,743,000 after buying an additional 68,916 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 3.6% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,688,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,143,000 after buying an additional 58,917 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 29.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 210,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,921,000 after acquiring an additional 48,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of J & J Snack Foods in the 1st quarter valued at $5,384,000. 76.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About J & J Snack Foods

J&J Snack Foods Corp. engages in the manufacturing of nutritional snack foods and distribution of frozen beverages to the food service and retail supermarket industries. It operates through the following segments: Food Service, Retail Supermarkets, and Frozen Beverages. The Food Service segment includes soft pretzels, frozen novelties, churros, handheld products, and baked goods.