Brokerages Set The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Price Target at $126.00

Shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $125.67.

Several analysts have recently commented on SJM shares. DA Davidson reduced their price target on J. M. Smucker from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on J. M. Smucker in a report on Monday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th.

Insider Activity at J. M. Smucker

In related news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in J. M. Smucker by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,344,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,469,544,000 after buying an additional 130,533 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 12.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,111,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,145,000 after acquiring an additional 762,746 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,734,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $411,222,000 after buying an additional 380,309 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,609,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,664,000 after acquiring an additional 58,231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in J. M. Smucker by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,415,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,942,000 after acquiring an additional 418,878 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

J. M. Smucker Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE SJM opened at $111.76 on Tuesday. J. M. Smucker has a 12 month low of $98.77 and a 12 month 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 company has a market capitalization of $11.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $107.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $112.29.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. On average, 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 business also recently disclosed 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 was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is currently -179.25%.

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.