Saputo (TSE:SAP) Shares Down 6.5% – Here’s Why

Shares of Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) traded down 6.5% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as C$41.89 and last traded at C$42.13. 163,994 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 1,000,983 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$45.06.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. National Bank Financial raised their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$45.00 to C$46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$40.00 to C$44.00 in a research report on Friday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$41.00 to C$42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Saputo from C$47.00 to C$50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 8th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Saputo from C$47.00 to C$49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$46.25.

Saputo Stock Down 8.3%

The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 59.15. The stock has a market capitalization of C$16.75 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is C$42.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$39.69.

Saputo (TSE:SAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported C$0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$4.89 billion for the quarter. Saputo had a net margin of 3.39% and a return on equity of 9.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Saputo Inc. will post 1.7735369 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Saputo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 3rd. Saputo’s payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Insider Transactions at Saputo

In other Saputo news, insider Patrick Turcotte sold 2,071 shares of Saputo stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$42.18, for a total transaction of C$87,354.78. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$351,612.48. The trade was a 19.90% decrease in their position. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,659 shares of company stock worth $112,169. 40.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Saputo

Saputo is a global dairy processor domiciled in Canada (28% of fiscal 2022 sales) with operations in the United States (43%), the U.K. (6%), and other international markets (23%). It sells cheese, cream, fluid milk, and other dairy products. In the retail segment (50% of revenue), its mix of brands include Saputo, Armstrong, Cheer, Cathedral City, and Frylight. Saputo also competes in food service (30% of revenue) and industrials (20% of revenue), which houses its ingredients business.