Cascades (TSE:CAS) Shares Cross Below Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of Cascades Inc. (TSE:CAS) crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$12.06 and traded as low as C$10.48. Cascades shares last traded at C$10.54, with a volume of 106,898 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Cascades from C$15.00 to C$14.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 8th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Cascades from C$16.75 to C$14.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. TD Securities dropped their target price on Cascades from C$16.00 to C$15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. National Bank Financial cut their price target on Cascades from C$14.00 to C$13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD reduced their price target on Cascades from C$14.00 to C$13.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cascades presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$13.64.

Cascades Trading Down 0.6%

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is C$10.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$12.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 113.03. The firm has a market capitalization of C$1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.07.

Cascades (TSE:CAS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.07 EPS for the quarter. Cascades had a net margin of 2.15% and a return on equity of 5.95%. The firm had revenue of C$1.13 billion during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cascades Inc. will post 1.2959309 EPS for the current year.

Cascades Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Cascades’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.00%.

Insider Activity at Cascades

In other Cascades news, insider Laurent Lemaire acquired 23,302 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$10.52 per share, for a total transaction of C$245,137.04. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 7,837,637 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$82,451,941.24. This trade represents a 0.30% increase in their position. Corporate insiders own 23.78% of the company’s stock.

About Cascades

Cascades Inc, along with its subsidiaries, produces, converts and markets packaging and tissue products composed mainly of recycled fibres. The company is organized into four main business segments: Containerboard, Boxboard Europe, Specialty Products (which constitutes packaging products), and Tissue Papers. The business activity of the company functions in Canada, the United States, Italy, and other countries. Its customer base includes food processing companies, the maintenance industry, accommodations, and housing industry, micro-businesses, and boutiques.