Appleton Partners Inc. MA Has $315,000 Holdings in 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lowered its holdings in shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 7.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,301 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 195 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in 3M were worth $315,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MMM. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in 3M during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in 3M by 419.1% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 244 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in 3M in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in 3M by 689.7% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 308 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of 3M in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MMM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Wolfe Research upgraded 3M from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of 3M from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of 3M from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, 3M presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 3M news, Chairman Michael F. Roman sold 5,675 shares of 3M stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.46, for a total value of $700,635.50. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 174,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,486,484.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other 3M news, Chairman Michael F. Roman sold 5,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.46, for a total transaction of $700,635.50. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 174,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,486,484.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Theresa E. Reinseth sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.12, for a total transaction of $260,652.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $541,659.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

3M Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of MMM stock opened at $134.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.95. 3M has a 12-month low of $71.12 and a 12-month high of $140.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $130.54 and a 200-day moving average of $110.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.95.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The conglomerate reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.25. 3M had a return on equity of 112.92% and a net margin of 3.08%. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that 3M will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

3M Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. 3M’s dividend payout ratio is presently -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.