StockNews.com Lowers Ingles Markets (NASDAQ:IMKTA) to Buy

StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingles Markets (NASDAQ:IMKTA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday.

Ingles Markets Price Performance

NASDAQ:IMKTA opened at $72.34 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $74.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.16. Ingles Markets has a 52-week low of $67.10 and a 52-week high of $89.59. The firm has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.80 and a beta of 0.70.

Ingles Markets (NASDAQ:IMKTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter. Ingles Markets had a net margin of 2.74% and a return on equity of 10.58%.

Ingles Markets Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. Ingles Markets’s payout ratio is presently 7.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ingles Markets news, Director Sharp Laura Ingle sold 5,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.02, for a total transaction of $401,386.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 23.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ingles Markets

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Ingles Markets by 123.5% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after buying an additional 7,306 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in Ingles Markets by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Ingles Markets by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 16,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,427,000 after buying an additional 1,514 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ingles Markets by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 735 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ingles Markets during the 4th quarter valued at about $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.54% of the company’s stock.

About Ingles Markets

Ingles Markets, Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, operates a chain of supermarkets in the southeast United States. It offers food products, including grocery, meat and dairy products, produce, frozen foods, and other perishables; and non-food products, which include fuel centers, pharmacies, health and beauty care products, and general merchandise, as well as private label items.