Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires 38,137 Shares of J & J Snack Foods Corp. $JJSF

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. significantly increased its stake in J & J Snack Foods Corp. by 877.3% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 38,137 shares to hold a total of 42,484 shares valued at approximately $5.6 million.
• J & J Snack Foods recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.80, which will be distributed to shareholders on October 7th, and represents a 2.9% yield with an increase from the previous dividend of $0.78.
• The company reported earnings of $2.00 EPS for the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue of $454.3 million, up 3.3% year-over-year.

Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF - Free Report) by 877.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,484 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 38,137 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.22% of J & J Snack Foods worth $5,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in J & J Snack Foods by 2.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 77,823 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,251,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in J & J Snack Foods by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,615 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,506,000 after buying an additional 2,431 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in J & J Snack Foods by 1.0% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 162,460 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,565 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 4.6% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 78,008 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,275,000 after acquiring an additional 3,442 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 21,621 shares of the company's stock worth $2,848,000 after acquiring an additional 3,181 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.04% of the company's stock.

J & J Snack Foods Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of J & J Snack Foods stock opened at $108.85 on Thursday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $114.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.46. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.37 and a beta of 0.42. J & J Snack Foods Corp. has a 12 month low of $106.40 and a 12 month high of $180.80.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.26. J & J Snack Foods had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 8.79%. The company had revenue of $454.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $445.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.98 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current year.

J & J Snack Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from J & J Snack Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. J & J Snack Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of J & J Snack Foods from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Benchmark cut their price objective on J & J Snack Foods from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, J & J Snack Foods presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $142.50.

J & J Snack Foods Company Profile

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.

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