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

Shares of Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$47.18.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. TD increased their price objective on Saputo from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. TD Securities raised Saputo to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Saputo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. National Bank Financial increased their price target on Saputo from C$44.00 to C$45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Ventum Capital lifted 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 report on Monday, June 8th.

Insider Activity at Saputo

In other Saputo news, insider Martin Gagnon sold 12,926 shares of Saputo stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider owned 31,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$1,316,890.38. The trade was a 29.19% decrease in their position. Also, Director Maxime Therrien sold 19,601 shares of Saputo stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 64,213 shares in the company, valued at C$2,700,798.78. This represents a 23.39% decrease in their position. Insiders sold a total of 155,766 shares of company stock worth $6,525,571 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 40.45% of the company’s stock.

Saputo Stock Performance

Shares of SAP opened at C$40.80 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of C$16.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.15. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is C$41.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$41.68. Saputo has a 12-month low of C$32.49 and a 12-month high of C$45.09.

Saputo (TSE:SAP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.01 earnings per share for the quarter. Saputo had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 7.45%. The business had revenue of C$4.42 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that Saputo will post 1.7735369 EPS for the current year.

Saputo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. Saputo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

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.