J & J Snack Foods Corp. $JJSF Position Increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 53,325 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,079 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in J & J Snack Foods were worth $5,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in J & J Snack Foods during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,406,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in J & J Snack Foods during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $120,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 62.5% during the 3rd quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 86,640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,325,000 after purchasing an additional 33,332 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 185.1% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 25,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,466,000 after purchasing an additional 16,661 shares during the period. 76.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

J & J Snack Foods Stock Down 0.6%

JJSF stock opened at $78.82 on Thursday. J & J Snack Foods Corp. has a 12-month low of $73.75 and a 12-month high of $142.69. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.10 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $84.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.55.

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

J & J Snack Foods Announces Dividend

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

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

J & J Snack Foods Profile

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.