AXQ Capital LP Takes $1.09 Million Position in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 762,746 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 40.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,353,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $406,169,000 after acquiring an additional 958,142 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,361,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,082,000 after acquiring an additional 192,748 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,003,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,455,000 after acquiring an additional 12,410 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 977,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,677,000 after acquiring an additional 118,240 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.36, for a total value of $569,974.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,503,493.68. This represents a 27.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SJM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.00.

J. M. Smucker Stock Performance

NYSE SJM opened at $109.78 on Friday. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 1 year low of $98.77 and a 1 year high of $127.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $11.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $107.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.46.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is presently -179.25%.

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.