Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) Receives C$47.18 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$47.18.

A number of analysts have weighed in on SAP shares. TD Securities upgraded Saputo to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. National Bank Financial lifted their price target on Saputo from C$44.00 to C$45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Ventum Financial set a C$49.00 price target on Saputo and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. TD upped their price objective on Saputo from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Saputo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th.

Saputo Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of TSE SAP opened at C$41.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 41.86, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.51. The business’s 50 day moving average price is C$41.26 and its 200-day moving average price is C$41.67. Saputo has a fifty-two week low of C$32.49 and a fifty-two week high of C$45.09. The company has a market cap of C$16.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.28, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.15.

Saputo (TSE:SAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.01 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$4.42 billion for the quarter. Saputo had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 7.45%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Saputo will post 1.7735369 earnings per share for the current year.

Saputo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 25th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. Saputo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Maxime Therrien sold 19,601 shares of Saputo 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 directly owned 64,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$2,700,798.78. The trade was a 23.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Martin Gagnon sold 12,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.99, for a total transaction of C$542,762.74. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 31,362 shares in the company, valued at C$1,316,890.38. This trade represents a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 155,766 shares of company stock valued at $6,525,571. Insiders own 40.45% of the company’s stock.

About Saputo

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.