Saputo (TSE:SAP) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Saputo (TSE:SAP) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. TD Securities raised shares of Saputo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. National Bank Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$46.00 to C$44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Ventum Financial set a C$47.00 target price on shares of Saputo and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Ventum Capital boosted their target price on shares of Saputo from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, TD dropped their target price on Saputo from C$52.00 to C$51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$46.73.

Saputo Price Performance

Saputo stock opened at C$39.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of C$16.00 billion, a PE ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.14. Saputo has a 52-week low of C$28.45 and a 52-week high of C$45.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.08. The company’s 50 day moving average is C$41.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$41.69.

Saputo (TSE:SAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The company reported C$0.41 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$3.31 billion during the quarter. Saputo had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 9.98%. On average, research analysts expect that Saputo will post 1.7735369 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Saputo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 25th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. Saputo’s payout ratio is currently 48.47%.

Insider Transactions at Saputo

In related news, Director Maxime Therrien sold 19,601 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 23.39% decrease in their position. Also, insider Martin Gagnon sold 12,926 shares of Saputo stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$41.99, for a total transaction of C$542,762.74. Following the sale, the insider owned 31,362 shares in the company, valued at C$1,316,890.38. This represents a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. In the last quarter, insiders sold 155,766 shares of company stock worth $6,525,571. 40.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Saputo Company Profile

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.