Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Acquires 2,537 Shares of J & J Snack Foods Corp. $JJSF

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 220,680 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,537 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in J & J Snack Foods were worth $25,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 243.5% in the 2nd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 426 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in shares of J & J Snack Foods in the second quarter worth $59,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 198.9% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 529 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 31.0% during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 613 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 301.3% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. 76.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at J & J Snack Foods

In other news, Director Kathleen E. Ciaramello acquired 540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $90.56 per share, with a total value of $48,902.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 1,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $91,737.28. This represents a 114.16% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 21.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JJSF has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of J & J Snack Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Benchmark reduced their target price on J & J Snack Foods from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded J & J Snack Foods from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered J & J Snack Foods from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, J & J Snack Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.50.

J & J Snack Foods Stock Down 0.1%

J & J Snack Foods stock opened at $92.34 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $90.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.54. The company has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of 21.52 and a beta of 0.39. J & J Snack Foods Corp. has a twelve month low of $80.67 and a twelve month high of $175.51.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 17th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.34. J & J Snack Foods had a return on equity of 8.79% and a net margin of 5.24%.The company had revenue of $410.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.08 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J & J Snack Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 16th. J & J Snack Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 95.52%.

J & J Snack Foods Profile

J&J Snack Foods Corp. engages in the manufacturing of nutritional snack foods and distribution of frozen beverages to the food service and retail supermarket industries. It operates through the following segments: Food Service, Retail Supermarkets, and Frozen Beverages. The Food Service segment includes soft pretzels, frozen novelties, churros, handheld products, and baked goods.