Welch Group LLC Has $324,000 Position in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Welch Group LLC cut its holdings in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) by 62.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,673 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,400 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 6,703.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 159,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,433,000 after acquiring an additional 157,523 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in J. M. Smucker by 62.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,043,000 after purchasing an additional 9,250 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in J. M. Smucker by 14.1% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 127,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,915,000 after acquiring an additional 15,792 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its stake in J. M. Smucker by 25.7% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 56,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,151,000 after buying an additional 11,622 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 553.9% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 8,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 7,517 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on SJM. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of J. M. Smucker to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.42.

J. M. Smucker Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of SJM stock traded up $1.32 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $117.39. 28,624 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,154,518. The stock has a market cap of $12.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24. The J. M. Smucker Company has a 12 month low of $105.69 and a 12 month high of $134.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.27. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 14.22%. The business had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. J. M. Smucker’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.81 EPS for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.10%.

J. M. Smucker 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.