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

Shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $129.46.

A number of brokerages recently commented on SJM. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $135.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of J. M. Smucker in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $132.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 10th.

J. M. Smucker Stock Down 0.8 %

J. M. Smucker stock opened at $113.79 on Friday. J. M. Smucker has a twelve month low of $105.69 and a twelve month high of $146.29. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $116.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.25.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.26. J. M. Smucker had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 9.10%. The business had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that J. M. Smucker will post 10.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J. M. Smucker Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. This is a boost from J. M. Smucker’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark T. Smucker sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.16, for a total value of $1,101,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,675,871.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J. M. Smucker

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,471,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,702,515,000 after purchasing an additional 518,433 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new position in J. M. Smucker during the first quarter worth about $364,990,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 8.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,783,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,435,000 after purchasing an additional 135,158 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 14.4% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,526,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,403,000 after purchasing an additional 192,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 29.0% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,457,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,518,000 after purchasing an additional 327,680 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

J. M. Smucker Company 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.