Man Group plc Acquires New Shares in J & J Snack Foods Corp. $JJSF

Key Points

• Man Group plc acquired 21,251 shares of J & J Snack Foods in the second quarter, worth approximately $1.56 million and representing 0.11% of the company. Institutional investors collectively own 76.04% of JJSF.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: Benchmark and Jefferies maintain “buy” ratings, while Weiss Ratings and Zacks Research issued sell-oriented views. The stock has a consensus “Hold” rating and a target price of $110.50.
• J & J Snack Foods beat quarterly earnings expectations with EPS of $1.96 versus $1.70, although revenue fell 6.3% year over year. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.80, implying a 3.7% annualized yield.

Man Group plc acquired a new position in J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 21,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,561,000. Man Group plc owned 0.11% of J & J Snack Foods as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JJSF. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 485.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 275 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 1,133.3% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 333 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 1,450.0% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 341 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in J & J Snack Foods by 58.4% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 404 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in J & J Snack Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.04% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on JJSF. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of J & J Snack Foods from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of J & J Snack Foods from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $110.50.

J & J Snack Foods Price Performance

JJSF opened at $86.37 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $81.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.26. J & J Snack Foods Corp. has a 12-month low of $68.87 and a 12-month high of $110.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.22 and a beta of 0.40.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $425.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $427.65 million. J & J Snack Foods had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 3.23%.J & J Snack Foods's revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.00 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

J & J Snack Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. J & J Snack Foods's payout ratio is 123.08%.

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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