Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Decreases Stake in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado trimmed its holdings in shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) by 5.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,648 shares of the company’s stock after selling 635 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $1,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 4.0% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of J. M. Smucker during the first quarter worth approximately $364,990,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 8.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,783,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,435,000 after buying an additional 135,158 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 29.0% in the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,457,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,518,000 after acquiring an additional 327,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC boosted its stake in J. M. Smucker by 58.7% during the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 868,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,302,000 after acquiring an additional 321,049 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SJM. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. BNP Paribas upgraded J. M. Smucker to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America decreased their target price on J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on J. M. Smucker from $135.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $127.25.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

NYSE SJM opened at $117.43 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $118.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.12. The stock has a market cap of $12.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 52 week low of $105.69 and a 52 week high of $134.62.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.27. J. M. Smucker had a return on equity of 14.22% and a net margin of 8.77%. The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.82 EPS for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This is a boost from J. M. Smucker’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.67%.

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.