Jefferies Financial Group Downgrades Saputo (TSE:SAP) to Hold

Saputo (TSE:SAP) was downgraded by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. National Bank Financial lowered their price objective on Saputo from C$46.00 to C$44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Ventum Capital increased their target price on Saputo from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. TD cut their target price on Saputo from C$52.00 to C$51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Ventum Financial set a C$47.00 price target on Saputo and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Securities upgraded Saputo to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$46.73.

Saputo Stock Down 3.6%

SAP stock opened at C$39.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$16.00 billion, a PE ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of C$41.58 and a 200-day moving average of C$41.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.08, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.71. Saputo has a one year low of C$28.45 and a one year high of C$45.09.

Saputo (TSE:SAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The company reported C$0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$3.31 billion for the quarter. Saputo had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 9.98%. As a group, analysts expect that Saputo will post 1.7735369 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Saputo news, Director Maxime Therrien sold 19,601 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$42.06, for a total transaction of C$824,418.06. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 64,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$2,700,798.78. This represents a 23.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Steven Michael Douglas bought 3,875 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of C$41.01 per share, for a total transaction of C$158,913.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$688,639.92. This trade represents a 30.00% increase in their position. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 155,766 shares of company stock valued at $6,525,571. Corporate insiders own 40.45% of the company’s stock.

About Saputo

Saputo, one of the top ten dairy processors in the world, produces, markets, and distributes a wide array of dairy products of the utmost quality, including cheese, fluid milk, extended shelf-life milk and cream products, cultured products, and dairy ingredients. Saputo is a leading cheese manufacturer and fluid milk and cream processor in Canada and a leading dairy processor in Australia. In the USA, Saputo ranks among the top three cheese producers and is one of the top producers of extended shelf-life and cultured dairy products.