Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Acquires 16,963 Shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its stake in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 271,299 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,963 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $29,875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in J. M. Smucker by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,353,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $406,169,000 after buying an additional 958,142 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 12.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,111,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $861,145,000 after buying an additional 762,746 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 186.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 805,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,195,000 after acquiring an additional 523,803 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 891.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 579,903 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,226,000 after purchasing an additional 521,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC raised its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 56.0% in the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 1,354,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,749,000 after purchasing an additional 486,624 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SJM shares. TD Cowen downgraded J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $130.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $135.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of 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 upgraded J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.33.

J. M. Smucker Trading Down 2.5 %

SJM stock traded down $2.66 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $104.81. The stock had a trading volume of 682,707 shares, compared to its average volume of 918,802. 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 $11.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $113.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $115.84. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 1-year low of $104.27 and a 1-year high of $134.62.

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

J. M. Smucker Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 87.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 994 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,116,942. This represents a 5.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

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.