J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) Announces $0.70 Quarterly Dividend

J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF – Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 15th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 21st will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share on Tuesday, April 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 20th.

J&J Snack Foods has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 18 years. J&J Snack Foods has a payout ratio of 53.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect J&J Snack Foods to earn $5.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.9%.

J&J Snack Foods Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:JJSF opened at $140.81 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $144.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.43 and a beta of 0.53. J&J Snack Foods has a one year low of $117.45 and a one year high of $165.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

J&J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $351.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.70 million. J&J Snack Foods had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 3.03%. J&J Snack Foods’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that J&J Snack Foods will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J&J Snack Foods

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Point72 Middle East FZE purchased a new stake in shares of J&J Snack Foods in the 4th quarter valued at $69,000. Capital Impact Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 51.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Impact Advisors LLC now owns 3,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 1,244 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in J&J Snack Foods by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 44,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,702,000 after buying an additional 899 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC purchased a new stake in J&J Snack Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $1,303,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in J&J Snack Foods by 319.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 761,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,076,000 after buying an additional 580,248 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JJSF has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TheStreet lowered shares of J&J Snack Foods from a “b” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of J&J Snack Foods in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of J&J Snack Foods in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company.

About J&J Snack Foods

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J&J Snack Foods Corp. engages in the manufacturing of nutritional snack foods and distribution of frozen beverages to the food service and retail supermarket industries. It operates through the following segments: Food Service, Retail Supermarkets, and Frozen Beverages. The Food Service segment includes soft pretzels, frozen juice treats and desserts, churros, dough enrobed handheld products, and baked goods.