SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) Earns Overweight Rating from Stephens

SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) (TSE:SOY)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by equities researchers at Stephens in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $10.00 target price on the stock. Stephens’ price objective points to a potential upside of 29.87% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective on shares of SunOpta in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of SunOpta from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.50.

SunOpta Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of SunOpta stock opened at $7.70 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.41. SunOpta has a 12-month low of $4.88 and a 12-month high of $8.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $920.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.78 and a beta of 1.78.

SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) (TSE:SOY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02. SunOpta had a positive return on equity of 7.92% and a negative net margin of 2.74%. The business had revenue of $176.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.30 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that SunOpta will post 0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rebecca Fisher sold 13,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.58, for a total transaction of $99,616.36. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 108,500 shares in the company, valued at $822,430. The trade was a 10.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Robert Duchscher sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.33, for a total transaction of $366,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $314,977.43. This represents a 53.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SunOpta

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STKL. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in SunOpta by 139.3% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 4,772 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SunOpta in the second quarter valued at about $60,000. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in SunOpta during the second quarter worth about $63,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in SunOpta during the third quarter worth about $79,000. Finally, Tealwood Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in SunOpta in the third quarter valued at about $80,000. 85.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About SunOpta

SunOpta Inc engages in manufacture and sale of plant-based and fruit-based food and beverage products in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company provides plant-based beverages utilizing oat, almond, soy, coconut, rice, hemp, and other bases under the Dream and West Life brands; oat-based creamers under the SOWN brand; ready-to-drink protein shakes; and nut, grain, seed, and legume based beverages; packaged teas and concentrates; and meat and vegetable broths and stocks.