J&J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $160.86, but opened at $172.00. J&J Snack Foods shares last traded at $167.72, with a volume of 3,063 shares changing hands.

The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.04. J&J Snack Foods had a net margin of 4.34% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $443.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $421.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JJSF has been the subject of several research reports. TheStreet raised J&J Snack Foods from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on J&J Snack Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of J&J Snack Foods from $170.00 to $190.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J&J Snack Foods

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in JJSF. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in J&J Snack Foods by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,319,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,384,000 after purchasing an additional 13,013 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 1.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,558,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,796,000 after buying an additional 28,390 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 0.7% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,389,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,393,000 after buying an additional 9,205 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of J&J Snack Foods by 1.1% in the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,287,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,824,000 after acquiring an additional 14,175 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in J&J Snack Foods by 319.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 761,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,076,000 after acquiring an additional 580,248 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

J&J Snack Foods Stock Up 8.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.17 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $160.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.28.

About J&J Snack Foods

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, PRETZEL FILLERS, PRETZELFILS, GOURMET TWISTS, MR.