CPB (NYSE:CPF) Hits New 52-Week High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• CPB (NYSE:CPF) hit a new 52-week high of $35.29 on Friday, trading around $35.09 with a market cap near $923 million and a P/E of 12.21.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with a consensus target price of $37.00 (two Buys and one Hold), after recent target adjustments by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Piper Sandler.
• CPB beat estimates with EPS of $0.85 vs. $0.73 and revenue of $76.29M, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.29 (annualized yield ~3.3% and a ~40.6% payout ratio).

CPB Inc. (NYSE:CPF - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $35.29 and last traded at $35.0910, with a volume of 90353 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $34.16.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on CPF. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of CPB in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on CPB from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on CPB from $39.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CPB currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.00.

CPB Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $923.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.34.

CPB (NYSE:CPF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $76.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.43 million. CPB had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 21.17%. On average, analysts expect that CPB Inc. will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

CPB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were issued a $0.29 dividend. This is a boost from CPB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. CPB's dividend payout ratio is 40.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CPB

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. HoldCo Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of CPB by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. HoldCo Asset Management LP now owns 2,427,576 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $75,643,000 after purchasing an additional 146,547 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CPB by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,079,266 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $64,790,000 after purchasing an additional 24,933 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CPB by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,046,284 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $32,602,000 after purchasing an additional 12,206 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of CPB by 11.0% during the second quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 885,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $24,828,000 after purchasing an additional 88,028 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CPB by 7.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 803,750 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $24,386,000 after purchasing an additional 58,207 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.42% of the company's stock.

About CPB

Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited NYSE: CPF is a Thailand‐based integrated agro‐industrial and food conglomerate. Headquartered in Bangkok, the company is a subsidiary of the Charoen Pokphand Group and has grown into one of the world's leading producers of livestock feed, meat and seafood products. CPF's businesses span animal feed milling, animal breeding and hatchery operations, meat and seafood processing, and the distribution of fresh, frozen and value‐added food products.

CPF's product portfolio includes poultry, swine and aquaculture feed; fresh and frozen chicken and pork; shrimp and other seafood; as well as ready‐to‐eat and ready‐to‐cook food items.

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