Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Saputo has a “Moderate Buy” consensus among 10 brokerages, with six buy ratings, one strong buy and three holds. The average 1-year price target is C$47.18, compared with shares recently trading near C$42.19.
• Several analysts raised their price targets, including TD to C$53 and Ventum to C$48, while Jefferies downgraded the stock from strong buy to hold.
• Insiders sold 155,766 shares worth approximately C$6.5 million over the past 90 days. Saputo also reported C$4.42 billion in quarterly revenue and maintains a quarterly dividend equivalent to C$0.80 annually, yielding about 1.9%.

Shares of Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$47.18.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SAP. Ventum Capital increased their price target on shares of Saputo from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. National Bank Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$44.00 to C$45.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday. TD upped their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Saputo from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Ventum Financial set a C$49.00 target price on shares of Saputo and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Saputo news, Director Maxime Therrien sold 19,601 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$42.06, for a total value of C$824,418.06. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 64,213 shares of the company's stock, valued at C$2,700,798.78. This represents a 23.39% decrease in their position. Also, insider Martin Gagnon sold 12,926 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$41.99, for a total value of C$542,762.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$1,316,890.38. The trade was a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 155,766 shares of company stock worth $6,525,571. Corporate insiders own 40.45% of the company's stock.

Saputo Stock Up 0.0%

TSE:SAP opened at C$42.19 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$16.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.15. Saputo has a 1-year low of C$32.44 and a 1-year high of C$45.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 41.86. The business's fifty day moving average price is C$41.30 and its 200 day moving average price is C$41.67.

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

Saputo Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 25th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. Saputo's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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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