Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 674 Shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado trimmed its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) by 0.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 284,055 shares of the company’s stock after selling 674 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in McCormick & Company, Incorporated were worth $20,151,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MKC. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 87.5% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 40.3% during the second quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 794 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated during the second quarter worth about $67,000. 79.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen cut their price objective on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $75.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $69.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.38.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MKC opened at $82.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.29, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $78.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.35. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a 52-week low of $59.13 and a 52-week high of $85.49.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 8th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 8th. McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.31%.

Insider Transactions at McCormick & Company, Incorporated

In related news, Director Lawrence Erik Kurzius sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,875,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 199,258 shares in the company, valued at $14,944,350. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 22.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Profile

McCormick & Company, Incorporated manufactures, markets, and distributes spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavorful products to the food industry. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Flavor Solutions. The Consumer segment offers spices, herbs, and seasonings, as well as condiments and sauces, and desserts.