J&J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $137.90, but opened at $145.00. J&J Snack Foods shares last traded at $154.73, with a volume of 18,966 shares traded.

The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.21. J&J Snack Foods had a return on equity of 9.98% and a net margin of 5.11%. The firm had revenue of $359.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $341.08 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

J&J Snack Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.735 per share. This represents a $2.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. J&J Snack Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of J&J Snack Foods in a research report on Tuesday.

Insider Activity at J&J Snack Foods

In other news, Director Marjorie Shreiber Roshkoff sold 625 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.73, for a total transaction of $92,331.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 69,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,261,178.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 22.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J&J Snack Foods

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of JJSF. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 12,431.7% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 204,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,490,000 after buying an additional 203,009 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of J&J Snack Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,404,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 6.9% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,473,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,985,000 after buying an additional 95,684 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of J&J Snack Foods in the first quarter valued at about $8,909,000. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 102.1% in the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 91,619 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,993,000 after buying an additional 46,294 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.04% of the company’s stock.

J&J Snack Foods Trading Up 14.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $140.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.45. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.06 and a beta of 0.54.

J&J Snack Foods Company Profile

J&J Snack Foods Corp. manufactures, markets, and distributes nutritional snack foods and beverages to the food service and retail supermarket industries in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. It operates through three segments: Food Service, Retail Supermarkets, and Frozen Beverages. It offers soft pretzels under the SUPERPRETZEL, SUPERPRETZEL BAVARIAN, NEW YORK PRETZEL, BAVARIAN BAKERY, and BRAUHAUS brands, as well as under the private labels; frozen novelty under the DIPPIN'DOTS, LUIGI'S, WHOLE FRUIT, DOGSTERS, PHILLY SWIRL, ICEE, and MINUTE MAID brands; churros under the HOLA! and CALIFORNIA CHURROS brands; and handheld products under the SUPREME STUFFERS and SWEET STUFFERS brands.