Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$31.00.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SAP shares. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 28th. National Bankshares cut their price target on shares of Saputo from C$31.00 to C$28.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Scotiabank upgraded Saputo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Saputo from C$38.00 to C$35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, CIBC lowered their price target on Saputo from C$32.00 to C$29.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th.

Saputo Stock Performance

Shares of SAP opened at C$24.56 on Monday. Saputo has a 52-week low of C$22.59 and a 52-week high of C$32.15. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is C$24.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$25.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 51.68, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.53. The stock has a market capitalization of C$10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -65.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.32.

Saputo Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Saputo’s dividend payout ratio is -203.48%.

About Saputo

Saputo Inc produces, markets, and distributes dairy products in Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, and the United Kingdom. The company offers cheeses, including mozzarella and cheddar; specialty cheeses, such as ricotta, provolone, blue, parmesan, goat cheese, feta, romano, and havarti; fine cheeses comprising brie and camembert; and other cheeses that include brick, colby, farmer, munster, monterey jack, fresh curd, and processed cheeses.