Short Interest in J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) Grows By 12.3%

J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 659,800 shares, an increase of 12.3% from the September 15th total of 587,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 83,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.9 days. Approximately 4.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

J&J Snack Foods Stock Performance

NASDAQ:JJSF opened at $169.15 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.10 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. J&J Snack Foods has a 52 week low of $133.23 and a 52 week high of $176.38. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.27.

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

J&J Snack Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th were issued a $0.78 dividend. This is a boost from J&J Snack Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. J&J Snack Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gerald B. Shreiber sold 20,000 shares of the business’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 value of $3,359,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Mary Lou Kehoe sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.59, for a total transaction of $254,385.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 742 shares in the company, valued at $125,835.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gerald B. Shreiber sold 20,000 shares of J&J Snack Foods stock in a transaction dated Saturday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.95, for a total value of $3,359,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 22.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JJSF. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,636,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,544,000 after purchasing an additional 71,378 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in J&J Snack Foods by 6.1% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,562,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,702,000 after buying an additional 89,160 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in J&J Snack Foods by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 542,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,488,000 after buying an additional 99,264 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 130.8% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 535,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,003,000 after acquiring an additional 303,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 458,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,400,000 after acquiring an additional 18,932 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.04% of the company’s stock.

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.