Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Nomad Foods Limited (NYSE:NOMD) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 4,268,868 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 163% from the previous session’s volume of 1,621,649 shares.The stock last traded at $11.9650 and had previously closed at $11.42.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NOMD shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Nomad Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Nomad Foods from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Nomad Foods in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Nomad Foods in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Nomad Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nomad Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.25.

Nomad Foods Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $11.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.81.

Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $825.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $825.02 million. Nomad Foods had a net margin of 4.20% and a return on equity of 8.88%. The company’s revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. Nomad Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.604-1.779 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Nomad Foods Limited will post 1.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nomad Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. Nomad Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Nomad Foods by 9.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 143,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,829,000 after purchasing an additional 12,131 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nomad Foods by 81.3% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 656,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,904,000 after buying an additional 294,386 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in Nomad Foods by 50.2% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 75,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after buying an additional 25,358 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new position in Nomad Foods during the second quarter worth about $221,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Nomad Foods by 427.3% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 105,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,799,000 after acquiring an additional 85,793 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

About Nomad Foods

Nomad Foods Limited is a leading frozen foods company headquartered in the United Kingdom, operating under the ticker symbol NOMD on the New York Stock Exchange. The company’s portfolio comprises well-known consumer brands such as Birds Eye, iglo, Findus, Goodfella’s and Aunt Bessie’s, covering a wide range of categories including vegetables, seafood, ready meals, pizzas and desserts. Nomad Foods focuses on delivering convenient, high-quality frozen products designed to meet evolving consumer preferences for taste, nutrition and ease of preparation.

Formed in 2015 through the acquisition of Iglo Group by investment firms Permira and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Nomad Foods was created with the strategy of building Europe’s largest frozen foods platform.