SG Americas Securities LLC Grows Stock Holdings in J & J Snack Foods Corp. $JJSF

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) by 776.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 48,855 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,283 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in J & J Snack Foods were worth $4,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of JJSF. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 962.0% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 107,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,301,000 after purchasing an additional 97,108 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in J & J Snack Foods in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,045,000. Ranger Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 52.4% in the second quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 200,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,743,000 after buying an additional 68,916 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in J & J Snack Foods by 19.9% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 404,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,865,000 after acquiring an additional 67,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in J & J Snack Foods by 793.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 62,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,030,000 after acquiring an additional 55,731 shares during the last quarter. 76.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on JJSF. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Zacks Research cut shares of J & J Snack Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.00.

J & J Snack Foods Price Performance

JJSF opened at $78.82 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.55. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.10 and a beta of 0.38. J & J Snack Foods Corp. has a 1 year low of $73.75 and a 1 year high of $142.69.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $343.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.95 million. J & J Snack Foods had a return on equity of 8.79% and a net margin of 3.92%.The business’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

J & J Snack Foods announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 3rd that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

J & J Snack Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. J & J Snack Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.91%.

About J & J Snack Foods

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ: JJSF) is a U.S.-based manufacturer and distributor of branded snack foods and frozen beverages. Headquartered in Pennsauken, New Jersey, the company develops, produces and markets a broad array of proprietary and licensed products for retail, concession and foodservice customers. Its offerings span soft pretzels, frozen novelties, real Italian ice, churros and packaged beverages under well-known names such as ICEE, SuperPretzel, Luigi’s and ChurroMan.

Founded in 1971 by Gerald B.