Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 5,609 Shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,120 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,609 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in McCormick & Company, Incorporated were worth $2,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 97,525.5% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 976,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,256,000 after acquiring an additional 975,255 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated during the 2nd quarter valued at $51,286,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 111.2% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 733,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,041,000 after purchasing an additional 386,320 shares during the period. Covea Finance bought a new stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the third quarter worth $31,740,000. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB boosted its position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 3,499.8% during the third quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 334,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,552,000 after buying an additional 325,477 shares during the period. 79.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MKC. BNP Paribas raised McCormick & Company, Incorporated to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.57.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Stock Performance

NYSE:MKC opened at $77.77 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.29. The stock has a market cap of $20.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.77. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a twelve month low of $63.67 and a twelve month high of $85.49.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.15. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 15.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. This is a positive change from McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael D. Mangan sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.00, for a total value of $395,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 40,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,194,444. This represents a 11.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 20,000 shares of company stock worth $1,565,850 in the last quarter. 22.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Profile

McCormick & Company, Incorporated manufactures, markets, and distributes spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavorful products to the food industry. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Flavor Solutions. The Consumer segment offers spices, herbs, and seasonings, as well as condiments and sauces, and desserts.