The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Short Interest Up 24.3% in November

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,240,000 shares, a growth of 24.3% from the October 31st total of 3,410,000 shares. Currently, 4.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,070,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J. M. Smucker

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in J. M. Smucker by 1.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,821,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in J. M. Smucker in the third quarter valued at about $682,000. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in J. M. Smucker in the third quarter valued at about $202,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in J. M. Smucker by 9.7% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in J. M. Smucker by 13.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after purchasing an additional 2,303 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SJM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.00.

J. M. Smucker Stock Performance

SJM stock traded up $1.82 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $119.61. 1,363,757 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,179,396. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $116.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $115.65. J. M. Smucker has a one year low of $105.69 and a one year high of $134.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.26.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.49 by $0.27. J. M. Smucker had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The firm had revenue of $2.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that J. M. Smucker will post 9.87 EPS for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 87.45%.

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.