Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Saputo, with six buy ratings, three holds and one strong buy. The average 12-month price target is C$47.18, above the reported share price of C$40.13.
• Saputo reported quarterly revenue of C$4.42 billion and earnings of C$0.01 per share, while increasing its quarterly dividend to C$0.21 per share, equivalent to an annualized yield of about 2.1%.
• Insiders sold 155,766 shares worth approximately C$6.5 million over the past 90 days, including significant sales by an insider and a director.

Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$47.18.

SAP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Saputo from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. National Bank Financial raised their price target on shares of Saputo from C$44.00 to C$45.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. TD Securities raised shares of Saputo to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. TD upped their price objective on Saputo from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Ventum Financial set a C$49.00 price objective on Saputo and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th.

Insider Transactions at Saputo

In related news, insider Martin Gagnon sold 26,806 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$41.78, for a total value of C$1,119,954.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 31,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$1,310,304.36. The trade was a 46.08% decrease in their position. Also, Director Steven Michael Douglas sold 19,777 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.90, for a total transaction of C$828,656.30. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$541,222.30. This trade represents a 60.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold a total of 155,766 shares of company stock worth $6,525,571 over the last 90 days. 40.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Saputo Price Performance

Shares of TSE:SAP opened at C$40.13 on Monday. The company's 50-day moving average is C$41.07 and its 200 day moving average is C$41.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 41.86, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of C$15.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.21. Saputo has a fifty-two week low of C$32.49 and a fifty-two week high of C$45.09.

Saputo (TSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.01 earnings per share for the quarter. Saputo had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 7.45%. The company had revenue of C$4.42 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Saputo will post 1.7735369 earnings per share for the current year.

Saputo Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from Saputo's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Saputo's payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

About Saputo

Saputo, one of the top ten dairy processors in the world, produces, markets, and distributes a wide array of dairy products of the utmost quality, including cheese, fluid milk, extended shelf-life milk and cream products, cultured products, and dairy ingredients. Saputo is a leading cheese manufacturer and fluid milk and cream processor in Canada and a leading dairy processor in Australia. In the USA, Saputo ranks among the top three cheese producers and is one of the top producers of extended shelf-life and cultured dairy products.

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