The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $128.56.

A number of research analysts have commented on SJM shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays decreased their target price on J. M. Smucker from $126.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com raised J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 994 shares of J. M. Smucker stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $112,322.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,116,942. The trade was a 5.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of J. M. Smucker

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SJM. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,111,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,145,000 after acquiring an additional 762,746 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 40.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,353,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $406,169,000 after purchasing an additional 958,142 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in 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 valued at $194,435,000 after purchasing an additional 135,158 shares during 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, Ariel Investments LLC raised its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 56.0% during the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 1,354,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,749,000 after purchasing an additional 486,624 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

J. M. Smucker Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of SJM opened at $110.12 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $11.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $113.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $115.84. J. M. Smucker has a 12-month low of $105.69 and a 12-month high of $134.62.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The business’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.59 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that J. M. Smucker will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. J. M. Smucker’s payout ratio is presently 87.45%.

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.