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

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the nine brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $126.00.

SJM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of J. M. Smucker from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SJM opened at $109.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $107.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.42. J. M. Smucker has a fifty-two week low of $98.77 and a fifty-two week high of $127.15. The firm has a market cap of $11.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28.

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

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SJM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in J. M. Smucker in the 4th quarter worth about $112,978,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,353,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,169,000 after buying an additional 958,142 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 3,599.5% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 929,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,346,000 after buying an additional 904,278 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 worth $861,145,000 after buying an additional 762,746 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 891.3% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 579,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,226,000 after buying an additional 521,404 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

About J. M. Smucker

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.