The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by 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 recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $125.67.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SJM shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price 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. TD Cowen cut shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $130.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of J. M. Smucker in a research note on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

Insider Transactions at J. M. Smucker

In related news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 5,028 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,503,493.68. This represents a 27.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 transaction, the insider now owns 8,794 shares in the company, 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. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J. M. Smucker

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in J. M. Smucker in the 4th quarter worth $112,978,000. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 3,599.5% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 929,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,346,000 after purchasing an additional 904,278 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in J. M. Smucker by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,078,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,808,000 after buying an additional 468,200 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 925,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,861,000 after acquiring an additional 432,500 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,415,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,942,000 after purchasing an additional 418,878 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

J. M. Smucker Stock Up 1.3 %

J. M. Smucker stock opened at $115.91 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $12.33 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.35. J. M. Smucker has a fifty-two week low of $98.77 and a fifty-two week high of $125.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $110.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $111.92.

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. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23 billion. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. Research analysts expect that J. M. Smucker will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -179.25%.

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.