Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Boosts Stock Position in J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) by 130.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 535,831 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 303,673 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 2.76% of J&J Snack Foods worth $87,003,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 4,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $705,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in J&J Snack Foods by 1.3% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 7,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,266,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Bridge City Capital LLC boosted its holdings in J&J Snack Foods by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 14,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,032,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 8,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 1,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of J&J Snack Foods in a report on Tuesday, August 6th.

J&J Snack Foods Stock Performance

NASDAQ JJSF opened at $168.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 37.86 and a beta of 0.62. J&J Snack Foods Corp. has a twelve month low of $133.23 and a twelve month high of $176.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $158.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

J&J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.99 by ($0.01). J&J Snack Foods had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 5.49%. The company had revenue of $439.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $440.92 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.92 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that J&J Snack Foods Corp. will post 5.21 earnings per share for the current year.

J&J Snack Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.78 dividend. This is a positive change from J&J Snack Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. J&J Snack Foods’s payout ratio is presently 70.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gerald B. Shreiber sold 20,000 shares of J&J Snack Foods stock in a transaction on Saturday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.95, for a total value of $3,359,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other J&J Snack Foods news, VP Mary Lou Kehoe sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.59, for a total transaction of $254,385.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,835.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gerald B. Shreiber sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.95, for a total transaction of $3,359,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 22.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

J&J Snack Foods Company Profile

J&J Snack Foods Corp. manufactures, markets, and distributes nutritional snack foods and beverages to the food service and retail supermarket industries in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. It operates through three segments: Food Service, Retail Supermarkets, and Frozen Beverages. It offers soft pretzels under the SUPERPRETZEL, SUPERPRETZEL BAVARIAN, NEW YORK PRETZEL, BAVARIAN BAKERY, and BRAUHAUS brands, as well as under the private labels; frozen novelty under the DIPPIN'DOTS, LUIGI'S, WHOLE FRUIT, DOGSTERS, PHILLY SWIRL, ICEE, and MINUTE MAID brands; churros under the HOLA! and CALIFORNIA CHURROS brands; and handheld products under the SUPREME STUFFERS and SWEET STUFFERS brands.