J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) in a research note published on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $123.00 price target on the stock.

SJM has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays lowered their target price on J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of J. M. Smucker from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, J. M. Smucker has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $125.67.

J. M. Smucker Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SJM opened at $114.46 on Monday. J. M. Smucker has a 52-week low of $98.77 and a 52-week high of $127.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $112.25.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.24. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. Analysts expect that J. M. Smucker will post 9.88 EPS for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. J. M. Smucker’s payout ratio is currently -179.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.36, for a total transaction of $569,974.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,503,493.68. This represents a 27.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J. M. Smucker

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in J. M. Smucker by 12.5% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 15,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,879,000 after acquiring an additional 1,724 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC grew its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 15,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in J. M. Smucker by 32.3% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,248,000 after purchasing an additional 2,518 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,966,000 after buying an additional 13,276 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 6.8% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $587,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

J. M. Smucker Company Profile

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.