ProShare Advisors LLC Increases Position in J & J Snack Foods Corp. $JJSF

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of J & J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) by 13.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 68,112 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,144 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in J & J Snack Foods were worth $6,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of JJSF. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 485.1% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 275 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 897.7% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 439 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 902.9% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 351 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 19,000.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 955 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in J & J Snack Foods by 71.1% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of J & J Snack Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of J & J Snack Foods in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of J & J Snack Foods from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $120.00.

J & J Snack Foods Stock Up 1.1%

J & J Snack Foods stock opened at $74.55 on Friday. J & J Snack Foods Corp. has a 52-week low of $68.87 and a 52-week high of $129.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $78.82 and a 200-day moving average of $85.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.02 and a beta of 0.43.

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ:JJSF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.01. J & J Snack Foods had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 9.01%. The company had revenue of $344.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that J & J Snack Foods Corp. will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J & J Snack Foods announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 3rd that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About J & J Snack Foods

J & J Snack Foods (NASDAQ: JJSF) is a U.S.-based manufacturer and distributor of branded snack foods and frozen beverages. Headquartered in Pennsauken, New Jersey, the company develops, produces and markets a broad array of proprietary and licensed products for retail, concession and foodservice customers. Its offerings span soft pretzels, frozen novelties, real Italian ice, churros and packaged beverages under well-known names such as ICEE, SuperPretzel, Luigi’s and ChurroMan.

Founded in 1971 by Gerald B.