Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on NOMD. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Nomad Foods from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Nomad Foods from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th.

Nomad Foods Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Nomad Foods stock opened at $17.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.76 and a 200-day moving average of $18.23. The stock has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 0.78. Nomad Foods has a 52-week low of $13.56 and a 52-week high of $20.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. The company had revenue of $810.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $822.21 million. Nomad Foods had a net margin of 6.79% and a return on equity of 9.78%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nomad Foods will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Nomad Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Investors of record on Saturday, August 10th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. Nomad Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 44.44%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Nomad Foods by 18.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,563,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,356,159 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nomad Foods by 8.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,179,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,881,000 after acquiring an additional 320,900 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Nomad Foods by 16.3% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,377,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,941,000 after acquiring an additional 193,531 shares during the last quarter. Paradice Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nomad Foods by 8.3% in the second quarter. Paradice Investment Management LLC now owns 1,365,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,511,000 after acquiring an additional 104,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Nomad Foods by 26.0% in the first quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 1,218,304 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,830,000 after acquiring an additional 251,619 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.26% of the company’s stock.

About Nomad Foods

Nomad Foods Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of frozen food products in the United Kingdom and internationally. The company offers frozen fish products, including fish fingers, coated fish, and natural fish; ready-to-cook vegetable products, such as peas and spinach; and frozen poultry and meat products comprising nuggets, grills, and burgers.