SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) Shares Up 6.5% – What’s Next?

SunOpta, Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) (TSE:SOY)’s stock price traded up 6.5% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $4.68 and last traded at $4.4950. 436,561 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 1,152,156 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.22.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on STKL. Zacks Research cut shares of SunOpta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of SunOpta in a research report on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson set a $8.00 target price on SunOpta in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on SunOpta from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.00.

SunOpta Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.28. The firm has a market cap of $540.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 1.08.

SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) (TSE:SOY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.02. SunOpta had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 0.16%.The company had revenue of $205.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.57 million. Equities research analysts expect that SunOpta, Inc. will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Greg Gaba bought 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $3.39 per share, for a total transaction of $50,850.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 110,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $376,188.30. This trade represents a 15.63% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cooperman Leon G increased its stake in SunOpta by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cooperman Leon G now owns 6,667,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,069,000 after buying an additional 160,058 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of SunOpta by 4.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,330,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,517,000 after acquiring an additional 98,077 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in SunOpta by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,267,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,286,000 after acquiring an additional 16,912 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in SunOpta by 12.4% in the third quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,088,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,239,000 after purchasing an additional 230,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in SunOpta by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,741,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,103,000 after purchasing an additional 55,763 shares during the period. 85.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About SunOpta

SunOpta Inc (NASDAQ: STKL) is a Canada-based company specializing in the sourcing, processing and packaging of organic and non-GMO plant-based foods and beverages. The company’s product portfolio spans a wide range of offerings, including non-dairy beverages such as oat, almond, soy and coconut drinks, fruit and plant-based beverages, and ingredient solutions for food manufacturers and foodservice customers. SunOpta’s integrated supply chain extends from ingredient sourcing and raw material preparation through to finished product formulation and packaging.

SunOpta operates through two primary business segments: Global Beverages and Global Ingredients.