Delta Financial Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Delta Financial Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in 3M (NYSE:MMM) by 38.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,492 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 5,980 shares during the quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in 3M were worth $1,038,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fragasso Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 3M by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. now owns 2,556 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in shares of 3M by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 836 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of 3M by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,941 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc boosted its stake in shares of 3M by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 13,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,575,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of 3M by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 10,489 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Rodriguez Beatriz Karin Chavez sold 426 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.32, for a total transaction of $39,328.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $366,141.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised 3M from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on 3M from $118.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on 3M from $112.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on 3M from $84.00 to $78.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on 3M from $126.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.00.

3M Trading Up 0.7 %

MMM traded up $0.67 during trading on Thursday, hitting $91.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,104,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,872,083. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $95.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $50.70 billion, a PE ratio of -7.31, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.02. 3M has a twelve month low of $71.12 and a twelve month high of $95.67.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $8.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.69 billion. 3M had a positive return on equity of 62.45% and a negative net margin of 21.40%. 3M’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.28 EPS. On average, analysts expect that 3M will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

3M Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $1.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This is an increase from 3M’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.59%. 3M’s payout ratio is -47.82%.

About 3M

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.