Saputo (TSE:SAP) Cut to “Hold” at National Bank Financial

National Bank Financial lowered shares of Saputo (TSE:SAP) from an outperform rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have C$46.00 target price on the stock.

SAP has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Saputo from C$51.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Saputo from C$41.00 to C$42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on shares of Saputo from C$40.00 to C$44.00 in a report on Friday, January 30th. Desjardins upped their price target on shares of Saputo from C$45.00 to C$47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Saputo from C$47.00 to C$50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Sunday, February 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Saputo presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$46.25.

Saputo Stock Down 3.2%

Shares of TSE SAP opened at C$38.58 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of C$15.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$42.72 and a 200 day moving average price of C$39.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 59.15, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.64. Saputo has a 52-week low of C$25.17 and a 52-week high of C$45.09.

Saputo (TSE:SAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported C$0.57 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$4.89 billion during the quarter. Saputo had a net margin of 3.39% and a return on equity of 9.50%. Analysts expect that Saputo will post 1.7735369 EPS for the current year.

Saputo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 3rd. Saputo’s dividend payout ratio is 50.00%.

Insider Transactions at Saputo

In other Saputo news, insider Patrick Turcotte sold 2,071 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$42.18, for a total transaction of C$87,354.78. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 8,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$351,612.48. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold 2,659 shares of company stock worth $112,169 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 40.45% of the company’s stock.

About Saputo

Saputo is a global dairy processor domiciled in Canada (28% of fiscal 2022 sales) with operations in the United States (43%), the U.K. (6%), and other international markets (23%). It sells cheese, cream, fluid milk, and other dairy products. In the retail segment (50% of revenue), its mix of brands include Saputo, Armstrong, Cheer, Cathedral City, and Frylight. Saputo also competes in food service (30% of revenue) and industrials (20% of revenue), which houses its ingredients business.