Affinity Capital Advisors LLC Sells 159 Shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Affinity Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,998 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 159 shares during the quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in 3M were worth $212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 3M by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,033,679 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,590,533,000 after acquiring an additional 317,483 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in 3M by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,080,578 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,320,649,000 after acquiring an additional 43,732 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in 3M in the 4th quarter valued at $502,585,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in 3M by 1,273.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,783,726 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $413,637,000 after buying an additional 3,508,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in 3M by 313.8% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,650,961 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $289,803,000 after buying an additional 2,010,319 shares during the last quarter. 65.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of 3M from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of 3M from $112.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of 3M from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $110.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. HSBC upgraded shares of 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $91.13 to $115.00 in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded shares of 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $92.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, 3M presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.58.

3M Stock Performance

MMM traded down $0.93 on Wednesday, reaching $101.12. The company had a trading volume of 393,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,515,877. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $55.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.96. 3M has a fifty-two week low of $71.12 and a fifty-two week high of $106.04. The company’s fifty day moving average is $98.59 and its 200 day moving average is $99.24.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.97 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that 3M will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

3M Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. 3M’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -22.01%.

About 3M

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.