The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $128.56.

Several analysts recently commented on SJM shares. Barclays cut their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $126.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th.

J. M. Smucker Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE SJM opened at $109.11 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.85. The company has a market cap of $11.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. J. M. Smucker has a 12-month low of $105.69 and a 12-month high of $134.62.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The company’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.59 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that J. M. Smucker will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is 87.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 994 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $112,322.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,116,942. The trade was a 5.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J. M. Smucker

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SJM. State Street Corp boosted its position in J. M. Smucker by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,111,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $861,145,000 after buying an additional 762,746 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 40.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,353,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,169,000 after purchasing an additional 958,142 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,783,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,435,000 after purchasing an additional 135,158 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in J. M. Smucker by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,526,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,403,000 after acquiring an additional 192,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in J. M. Smucker by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,361,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,082,000 after buying an additional 192,748 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

J. M. Smucker Company Profile

The J. M. Smucker Company manufactures and markets branded food and beverage products worldwide. It operates in three segments: U.S. Retail Pet Foods, U.S. Retail Coffee, and U.S. Retail Consumer Foods. The company offers mainstream roast, ground, single serve, and premium coffee; peanut butter and specialty spreads; fruit spreads, toppings, and syrups; jelly products; nut mix products; shortening and oils; frozen sandwiches and snacks; pet food and pet snacks; and foodservice hot beverage, foodservice portion control, and flour products, as well as dog and cat food, frozen handheld products, juices and beverages, and baking mixes and ingredients.