Phocas Financial Corp. Acquires Shares of 40,358 J & J Snack Foods Corp. $JJSF

Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new stake in J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 40,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,647,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JJSF. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in J & J Snack Foods during the first quarter valued at $228,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in J & J Snack Foods by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,196,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 122.1% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 72,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after buying an additional 39,933 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 49.6% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 1,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of J & J Snack Foods by 465.8% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 25,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,391,000 after buying an additional 21,196 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.04% of the company’s stock.

J & J Snack Foods Stock Performance

JJSF opened at $79.22 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $83.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23 and a beta of 0.38. J & J Snack Foods Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $73.75 and a fifty-two week high of $142.69.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.01. J & J Snack Foods had a net margin of 3.92% and a return on equity of 8.79%. The business had revenue of $343.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $365.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current year.

J & J Snack Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. J & J Snack Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.91%.

J & J Snack Foods announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 3rd that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on JJSF shares. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Zacks Research downgraded J & J Snack Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.00.

About J & J Snack Foods

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ: JJSF) is a U.S.-based manufacturer and distributor of branded snack foods and frozen beverages. Headquartered in Pennsauken, New Jersey, the company develops, produces and markets a broad array of proprietary and licensed products for retail, concession and foodservice customers. Its offerings span soft pretzels, frozen novelties, real Italian ice, churros and packaged beverages under well-known names such as ICEE, SuperPretzel, Luigi’s and ChurroMan.

Founded in 1971 by Gerald B.