Ieq Capital LLC Takes $1.56 Million Position in J & J Snack Foods Corp. $JJSF

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 21,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,564,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of JJSF. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in J & J Snack Foods in the second quarter valued at approximately $175,914,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,000,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,822,000 after purchasing an additional 31,612 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 624,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,468,000 after purchasing an additional 79,093 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 382,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,607,000 after buying an additional 1,909 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 354,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,176,000 after buying an additional 9,820 shares during the period. 76.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on JJSF. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research downgraded J & J Snack Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Benchmark dropped their price target on J & J Snack Foods from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded J & J Snack Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $101.00 in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, J & J Snack Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.50.

J & J Snack Foods Stock Performance

Shares of JJSF stock opened at $89.35 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of 34.37 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.06. J & J Snack Foods Corp. has a 52 week low of $68.87 and a 52 week high of $115.72.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.26. J & J Snack Foods had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The firm had revenue of $425.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $427.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

J & J Snack Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. J & J Snack Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 123.08%.

About J & J Snack Foods

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.