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

Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $123.00 price target on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on SJM. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of 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. StockNews.com lowered J. M. Smucker from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. TD Cowen cut shares of J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $130.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, J. M. Smucker presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.67.

J. M. Smucker Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SJM opened at $114.46 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $12.18 billion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.25. J. M. Smucker has a one year low of $98.77 and a one year high of $127.15.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23 billion. J. M. Smucker had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 5.96%. As a group, equities analysts predict that J. M. Smucker will post 9.88 EPS for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity 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 value of $569,974.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,503,493.68. This represents a 27.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 3.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of J. M. Smucker

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in J. M. Smucker by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,344,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,469,544,000 after purchasing an additional 130,533 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 12.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,111,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,145,000 after buying an additional 762,746 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,734,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $411,222,000 after acquiring an additional 380,309 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,609,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,664,000 after acquiring an additional 58,231 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 418,878 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About J. M. Smucker

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.