Benchmark Has Lowered Expectations for J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) Stock Price

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) had its target price cut by stock analysts at Benchmark from $130.00 to $120.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Benchmark’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 68.85% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research cut J & J Snack Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, J & J Snack Foods has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $120.00.

J & J Snack Foods Trading Down 6.7%

Shares of JJSF stock traded down $5.10 on Monday, reaching $71.07. The company had a trading volume of 150,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 268,165. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 23.87 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $81.67 and a 200-day moving average of $86.99. J & J Snack Foods has a 12 month low of $70.76 and a 12 month high of $129.24.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $344.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.67 million. J & J Snack Foods had a return on equity of 9.01% and a net margin of 3.75%.J & J Snack Foods’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that J & J Snack Foods will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Institutional Trading of J & J Snack Foods

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in J & J Snack Foods during the 1st quarter worth approximately $205,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 624,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,468,000 after purchasing an additional 79,093 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 35.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 76,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,027,000 after purchasing an additional 19,908 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 92,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,364,000 after purchasing an additional 18,424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 1,728.2% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 3,733 shares in the last quarter. 76.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.