J & J Snack Foods Corp. $JJSF Stake Lessened by Bernzott Capital Advisors

Key Points

• Bernzott Capital Advisors cut its J&J Snack Foods stake by 26.0% in Q4 to 76,240 shares (about $6.89M), making JJSF 3.3% of its portfolio and its 13th-largest holding.
• J&J Snack Foods beat EPS estimates ($0.40 vs. $0.39) but missed revenue expectations as sales fell 3.2% year-over-year to $344.8M; shares opened at $75.71 (near a 1‑year low) and the company has a $1.44B market cap.
• The company pays a sizable dividend (quarterly $0.80, annualized yield ~4.2%, payout ratio ~101.9%) and authorized a $50M share buyback program to repurchase up to ~2.8% of shares.

Bernzott Capital Advisors lowered its holdings in J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF - Free Report) by 26.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,240 shares of the company's stock after selling 26,756 shares during the period. J & J Snack Foods makes up 3.3% of Bernzott Capital Advisors' portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Bernzott Capital Advisors owned about 0.40% of J & J Snack Foods worth $6,890,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 897.7% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 439 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 902.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 351 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 19,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 955 shares of the company's stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 71.1% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,013 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 76.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the company's stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.04% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on JJSF. Zacks Research lowered shares of J & J Snack Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $130.00.

J & J Snack Foods Trading Down 3.8%

JJSF stock opened at $75.71 on Friday. J & J Snack Foods Corp. has a 1 year low of $73.75 and a 1 year high of $129.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.99. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of 25.41 and a beta of 0.43.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.01. J & J Snack Foods had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $344.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. J & J Snack Foods's quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J & J Snack Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. J & J Snack Foods's payout ratio is currently 101.91%.

J & J Snack Foods declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 3rd that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

J & J Snack Foods Company Profile

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.

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