StockNews.com Downgrades 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 published on Thursday.

Ingles Markets Trading Up 2.2 %

IMKTA opened at $73.43 on Thursday. Ingles Markets has a 52 week low of $67.10 and a 52 week high of $89.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.31. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.92 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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

Ingles Markets Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Ingles Markets’s payout ratio is currently 7.12%.

Insider Activity

In other Ingles Markets news, Director Sharp Laura Ingle sold 4,799 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.38, for a total value of $337,753.62. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,901 shares in the company, valued at $415,312.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 23.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ingles Markets

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ingles Markets by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 311,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,872,000 after purchasing an additional 23,854 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Ingles Markets by 123.5% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 7,306 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ingles Markets by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Ingles Markets by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 16,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Ingles Markets by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 735 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. 62.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.