Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Boosts Position in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,727 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 983 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $1,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SJM. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in J. M. Smucker by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 660 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 2,731 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC grew its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 5,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $553,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

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 transaction of $569,974.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,263 shares in the company, valued at $1,503,493.68. This represents a 27.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SJM has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson cut their target price 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. TD Cowen lowered shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $130.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, J. M. Smucker has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.00.

J. M. Smucker Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SJM opened at $111.89 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.56. 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 company has a market cap of $11.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 12 month low of $98.77 and a 12 month high of $127.59.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -179.25%.

J. M. Smucker 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.