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

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $125.67.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SJM shares. TD Cowen downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley started coverage on J. M. Smucker in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 target price on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on J. M. Smucker from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

NYSE SJM opened at $114.85 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $111.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $111.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. J. M. Smucker has a 12-month low of $98.77 and a 12-month high of $125.42.

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

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. J. M. Smucker’s payout ratio is -179.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.36, for a total transaction of $569,974.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,503,493.68. This represents a 27.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jill R. Penrose sold 5,117 shares of J. M. Smucker stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.26, for a total transaction of $594,902.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,022,390.44. The trade was a 36.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J. M. Smucker

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 324,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,721,000 after purchasing an additional 11,339 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,361,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,082,000 after buying an additional 192,748 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of J. M. Smucker during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,273,000. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its stake in J. M. Smucker by 336.3% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 12,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after acquiring an additional 9,982 shares during the period. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 271,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,875,000 after acquiring an additional 16,963 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.