Seneca Foods (NASDAQ:SENEA) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Seneca Foods (NASDAQ:SENEA) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on SENEA. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Seneca Foods from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Seneca Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Seneca Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SENEA opened at $151.04 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $176.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $157.82. Seneca Foods has a 52 week low of $101.81 and a 52 week high of $210.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 3.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74 and a beta of -0.03.

Seneca Foods shares are scheduled to split before the market opens on Tuesday, November 17th. The 5-1 split was recently announced. The newly created shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Monday, November 16th.

Seneca Foods (NASDAQ:SENEA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $5.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $1.25. Seneca Foods had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 6.60%. The firm had revenue of $492.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $506.00 million.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Seneca Foods news, VP Dean Erstad sold 1,587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.16, for a total value of $327,175.92. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 609 shares in the company, valued at $125,551.44. The trade was a 72.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 8.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seneca Foods

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Seneca Foods during the fourth quarter worth approximately $722,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Seneca Foods by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 57,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,685,000 after purchasing an additional 13,564 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its holdings in Seneca Foods by 187.7% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 14,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,450,000 after buying an additional 9,190 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in Seneca Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,808,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Seneca Foods by 160.8% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 9,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after buying an additional 5,726 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.51% of the company’s stock.

About Seneca Foods

Seneca Foods Corporation is a U.S.-based food processor and producer of packaged fruits and vegetables. The company supplies retail, food service, industrial and government customers with canned, frozen and prepared foods, including vegetables, fruits, applesauce, snack products and ingredients.

Seneca markets products under brands including Seneca, Libby’s, Green Giant, Aunt Nellie’s, READ and CherryMan, while also producing private-label goods for retailers and other food companies. Its product portfolio includes canned and frozen vegetables, fruit products, shelf-stable meals and ingredients used by commercial food manufacturers.

Founded in 1949 and headquartered in Marion, New York, Seneca operates processing and distribution facilities primarily in the United States and sources agricultural products from North American growing regions.