Wesbanco Bank Inc. Acquires Shares of 63,600 SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) (TSE:SOY) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 63,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $490,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STKL. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of SunOpta by 16.6% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 5,504,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,122,000 after purchasing an additional 782,338 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of SunOpta by 12.7% during the third quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,604,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,998,000 after acquiring an additional 406,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in SunOpta by 80.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,127,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,579,000 after purchasing an additional 951,462 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in SunOpta by 18.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,827,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,658,000 after purchasing an additional 290,372 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in SunOpta by 65.6% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,761,922 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,567,000 after purchasing an additional 698,004 shares in the last quarter. 85.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rebecca Fisher sold 13,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.58, for a total transaction of $99,616.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 108,500 shares in the company, valued at $822,430. This represents a 10.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Robert Duchscher sold 50,000 shares of SunOpta stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.33, for a total value of $366,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 42,971 shares in the company, valued at $314,977.43. The trade was a 53.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.48% of the company’s stock.

SunOpta Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of SunOpta stock opened at $7.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $883.02 million, a PE ratio of -41.00 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. SunOpta Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4.88 and a fifty-two week high of $8.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $7.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.63.

SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) (TSE:SOY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02. SunOpta had a positive return on equity of 7.92% and a negative net margin of 2.74%. The firm had revenue of $176.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.30 million. Analysts anticipate that SunOpta Inc. will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on STKL shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of SunOpta from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of SunOpta in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective on shares of SunOpta in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, SunOpta currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.50.

SunOpta Profile

SunOpta Inc engages in manufacture and sale of plant-based and fruit-based food and beverage products in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company provides plant-based beverages utilizing oat, almond, soy, coconut, rice, hemp, and other bases under the Dream and West Life brands; oat-based creamers under the SOWN brand; ready-to-drink protein shakes; and nut, grain, seed, and legume based beverages; packaged teas and concentrates; and meat and vegetable broths and stocks.