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

Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$46.25.

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. National Bank Financial boosted their price target on shares of Saputo from C$45.00 to C$46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Saputo from C$41.00 to C$42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Desjardins boosted their price target on shares of Saputo from C$45.00 to C$47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Saputo from C$51.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 15th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Saputo from C$47.00 to C$49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Saputo news, insider Patrick Turcotte sold 2,071 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$42.18, for a total transaction of C$87,354.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$351,612.48. The trade was a 19.90% decrease in their position. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,659 shares of company stock worth $112,169. Insiders own 40.45% of the company’s stock.

Saputo Stock Performance

TSE:SAP opened at C$44.48 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of C$42.78 and a 200-day moving average of C$39.51. The firm has a market capitalization of C$18.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 59.15. Saputo has a twelve month low of C$24.05 and a twelve month high of C$44.60.

Saputo (TSE:SAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported C$0.57 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$4.89 billion during the quarter. Saputo had a net margin of 3.39% and a return on equity of 9.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Saputo will post 1.7735369 EPS for the current year.

Saputo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 3rd. Saputo’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

About Saputo

Saputo is a global dairy processor domiciled in Canada (28% of fiscal 2022 sales) with operations in the United States (43%), the U.K. (6%), and other international markets (23%). It sells cheese, cream, fluid milk, and other dairy products. In the retail segment (50% of revenue), its mix of brands include Saputo, Armstrong, Cheer, Cathedral City, and Frylight. Saputo also competes in food service (30% of revenue) and industrials (20% of revenue), which houses its ingredients business.