Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its position in shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 20.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,988 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,741 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in 3M were worth $1,696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fragasso Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 3M by 3.8% during the third quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. now owns 2,556 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in shares of 3M by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 10,489 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of 3M by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 20,931 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,288,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Summit Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 3M by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Summit Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,316 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allegheny Financial Group LTD grew its position in 3M by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD now owns 5,032 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $550,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MMM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of 3M from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $110.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Wolfe Research upgraded 3M from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. HSBC raised 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $91.13 to $115.00 in a report on Friday, May 10th. UBS Group boosted their target price on 3M from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on 3M from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, 3M presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.58.

3M Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of MMM opened at $103.17 on Friday. 3M has a 1-year low of $71.12 and a 1-year high of $106.04. The company has a market capitalization of $57.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.26.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.29. 3M had a negative net margin of 21.57% and a positive return on equity of 95.80%. The firm had revenue of $8 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.97 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that 3M will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

3M Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. 3M’s payout ratio is currently -22.01%.

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.