Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$46.73.

SAP has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Securities raised Saputo to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Ventum Capital increased their target price on Saputo from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. TD cut their target price on Saputo from C$52.00 to C$51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Ventum Financial set a C$47.00 target price on Saputo and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Saputo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Steven Michael Douglas sold 19,777 shares of Saputo stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$41.90, for a total transaction of C$828,656.30. Following the sale, the director owned 12,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$541,222.30. The trade was a 60.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Leanne Cutts sold 10,000 shares of Saputo stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.73, for a total value of C$417,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 23,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$992,756.70. This trade represents a 29.59% decrease in their position. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 155,766 shares of company stock valued at $6,525,571. Company insiders own 40.45% of the company’s stock.

Saputo Price Performance

SAP opened at C$39.95 on Friday. 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 price is C$41.58 and its 200 day moving average price is C$41.69. Saputo has a fifty-two week low of C$28.45 and a fifty-two week high of C$45.09. The firm has a market cap of C$16.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.14.

Saputo (TSE:SAP) last issued its 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 return on equity of 9.98% and a net margin of 3.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Saputo will post 1.7735369 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Saputo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.47%.

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.