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

Shares of Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$46.73.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SAP. TD Securities raised Saputo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Ventum Capital raised their target price on shares of Saputo from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. National Bank Financial lowered their price target on shares of Saputo from C$46.00 to C$44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Ventum Financial set a C$47.00 price target on shares of Saputo and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD dropped their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$52.00 to C$51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 8th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Steven Michael Douglas acquired 3,875 shares of Saputo stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$41.01 per share, for a total transaction of C$158,913.75. Following the acquisition, the director owned 16,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$688,639.92. This trade represents a 30.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Maxime Therrien sold 19,601 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$42.06, for a total transaction of C$824,418.06. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 64,213 shares in the company, valued at C$2,700,798.78. The trade was a 23.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. In the last three months, insiders have sold 155,766 shares of company stock worth $6,525,571. 40.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Saputo Stock Down 3.7%

Shares of TSE SAP opened at C$41.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of C$16.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.20, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.06. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is C$41.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$41.66. Saputo has a 12-month low of C$27.08 and a 12-month high of C$45.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.08.

Saputo (TSE:SAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The company reported C$0.41 EPS for the quarter. The firm 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, equities analysts predict that Saputo will post 1.7735369 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Saputo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 25th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. Saputo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.47%.

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.