Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) Shares Gap Up to $17.85

Nomad Foods Limited (NYSE:NOMD)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $17.85, but opened at $19.14. Nomad Foods shares last traded at $18.60, with a volume of 53,073 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barclays raised their price target on Nomad Foods from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd.

Nomad Foods Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $18.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a PE ratio of 15.45 and a beta of 0.77.

Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $761.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.56 million. Nomad Foods had a return on equity of 10.41% and a net margin of 6.34%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Nomad Foods Limited will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Nomad Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Nomad Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.78%.

Institutional Trading of Nomad Foods

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Nomad Foods by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,206,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,251,000 after purchasing an additional 1,688,624 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Nomad Foods in the fourth quarter valued at $25,286,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Nomad Foods by 157.6% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,183,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,065,000 after acquiring an additional 724,232 shares during the period. Townsend & Associates Inc increased its stake in Nomad Foods by 102.1% during the fourth quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc now owns 1,402,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,273,000 after acquiring an additional 708,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polaris Capital Management LLC increased its position in Nomad Foods by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Polaris Capital Management LLC now owns 3,397,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,586,000 after purchasing an additional 668,100 shares in the last quarter. 75.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Nomad Foods

Nomad Foods Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of frozen food products in the United Kingdom and internationally. The company offers frozen fish products, including fish fingers, coated fish, and natural fish; ready-to-cook vegetable products, such as peas and spinach; and frozen poultry and meat products comprising nuggets, grills, and burgers.