Saputo (TSE:SAP) Stock Price Down 6.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP)’s stock price fell 6.5% during trading on Monday after National Bank Financial downgraded the stock from an outperform rating to a hold rating. National Bank Financial now has a C$46.00 price target on the stock. Saputo traded as low as C$41.89 and last traded at C$42.13. 163,994 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 1,000,983 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$45.06.

SAP has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Saputo from C$51.00 to C$52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on shares of Saputo from C$40.00 to C$44.00 in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$47.00 to C$50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 8th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$47.00 to C$49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Saputo from C$41.00 to C$42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$46.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Saputo

In other news, insider Patrick Turcotte sold 2,071 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$42.18, for a total value of C$87,354.78. Following the sale, the insider owned 8,336 shares in the company, valued at C$351,612.48. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold a total of 2,659 shares of company stock valued at $112,169 in the last quarter. 40.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Saputo Trading Down 2.6%

The company has a market cap of C$16.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company’s 50-day moving average is C$42.80 and its 200 day moving average is C$39.79.

Saputo (TSE:SAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported C$0.57 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$4.89 billion for the quarter. Saputo had a net margin of 3.39% and a return on equity of 9.50%. Research analysts predict that Saputo Inc. will post 1.7735369 EPS for the current year.

Saputo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 3rd. Saputo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.00%.

Saputo Company Profile

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.