Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$47.18.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SAP. Ventum Financial set a C$49.00 target price on shares of Saputo and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. TD raised their price target on shares of Saputo from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Saputo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. TD Securities upgraded Saputo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Ventum Capital increased their target price on Saputo from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Leanne Cutts sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.73, for a total transaction of C$417,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 23,790 shares in the company, valued at C$992,756.70. This trade represents a 29.59% decrease in their position. Also, Director Maxime Therrien sold 19,601 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$42.06, for a total transaction of C$824,418.06. Following the sale, the director owned 64,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$2,700,798.78. This trade represents a 23.39% decrease in their position. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 135,989 shares of company stock valued at $5,696,914. 40.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Saputo Stock Down 0.5%

SAP opened at C$39.39 on Monday. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 41.86, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is C$40.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$41.46. The company has a market capitalization of C$15.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.21.

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

Saputo Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. This is a positive change from Saputo’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Saputo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

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.