J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) Short Interest Update

J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) was the target of a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 893,200 shares, a growth of 18.6% from the January 15th total of 753,400 shares. Approximately 5.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 112,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.9 days.

J&J Snack Foods Price Performance

NASDAQ JJSF opened at $124.85 on Monday. J&J Snack Foods has a 1 year low of $116.60 and a 1 year high of $180.80. The firm has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $146.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.01.

J&J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.29). J&J Snack Foods had a return on equity of 9.84% and a net margin of 5.31%. On average, research analysts anticipate that J&J Snack Foods will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J&J Snack Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. J&J Snack Foods’s payout ratio is 71.89%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J&J Snack Foods

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its holdings in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 14,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,428,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 513 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 76.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of J&J Snack Foods in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th.

J&J Snack Foods Company Profile

J&J Snack Foods Corp. engages in the manufacturing of nutritional snack foods and distribution of frozen beverages to the food service and retail supermarket industries. It operates through the following segments: Food Service, Retail Supermarkets, and Frozen Beverages. The Food Service segment includes soft pretzels, frozen novelties, churros, handheld products, and baked goods.