Saputo (TSE:SAP) Upgraded by TD Securities to “Strong-Buy” Rating

TD Securities upgraded shares of Saputo (TSE:SAP) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on SAP. Ventum Financial set a C$47.00 price target on shares of Saputo and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. National Bank Financial cut their price target on Saputo from C$46.00 to C$44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Ventum Capital raised their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$46.73.

Saputo Stock Performance

Saputo stock opened at C$40.80 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.08. The firm has a market cap of C$16.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.06. Saputo has a 1-year low of C$26.50 and a 1-year high of C$45.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$40.93 and a 200-day moving average of C$41.55.

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

Saputo Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Steven Michael Douglas acquired 3,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$41.01 per share, with a total value of C$158,913.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 16,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$688,639.92. This trade represents a 30.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Leanne Cutts sold 10,000 shares of the 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 transaction of C$417,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 23,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$992,756.70. This trade represents a 29.59% decrease in their position. Insiders have sold a total of 121,453 shares of company stock valued at $5,082,072 in the last 90 days. 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.