Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Makes New $246,000 Investment in 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in 3M (NYSE:MMM) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,802 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in 3M by 11,601.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,261,270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $172,416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,491 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in 3M by 1,015.6% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 888,564 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $94,247,000 after purchasing an additional 808,914 shares during the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in 3M in the second quarter valued at $76,732,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in 3M in the third quarter valued at $82,208,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of 3M by 11.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,065,242 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $517,617,000 after acquiring an additional 533,520 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on MMM shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on 3M from $143.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on 3M from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised 3M from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $184.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Melius Research raised 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on 3M from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.87.

3M Stock Performance

NYSE MMM opened at $128.42 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $132.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.11. 3M has a twelve month low of $75.40 and a twelve month high of $141.34. The company has a market capitalization of $69.93 billion, a PE ratio of 16.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.06 billion. 3M had a return on equity of 104.66% and a net margin of 15.37%. The company’s revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that 3M will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

3M Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. 3M’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.35%.

3M Company Profile

3M Company provides diversified technology services in the United States and internationally. The company’s Safety and Industrial segment offers industrial abrasives and finishing for metalworking applications; autobody repair solutions; closure systems for personal hygiene products, masking, and packaging materials; electrical products and materials for construction and maintenance, power distribution, and electrical original equipment manufacturers; structural adhesives and tapes; respiratory, hearing, eye, and fall protection solutions; and natural and color-coated mineral granules for shingles.