Saputo (TSE:SAP) Shares Cross Below 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP)’s share price passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$41.33 and traded as low as C$39.50. Saputo shares last traded at C$39.85, with a volume of 436,001 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on SAP. Ventum Capital lifted their price target on shares of Saputo from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. TD Securities upgraded Saputo to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Ventum Financial set a C$49.00 target price on shares of Saputo and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Saputo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, National Bank Financial increased their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$44.00 to C$45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Saputo presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$47.18.

Saputo Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 41.86. The stock has a market cap of C$15.76 billion, a PE ratio of 32.02, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is C$40.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$41.29.

Saputo (TSE:SAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Saputo had a return on equity of 7.45% and a net margin of 2.80%.The business had revenue of C$4.42 billion for the quarter. On average, equities analysts expect that Saputo Inc. will post 1.7735369 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Saputo Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. This is a positive change from Saputo’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Saputo’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Saputo

In related news, Director Maxime Therrien sold 14,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$42.08, for a total transaction of C$619,080.96. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 64,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$2,702,083.04. This represents a 18.64% decrease in their position. 40.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Saputo Company Profile

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.