3M (NYSE:MMM) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

3M (NYSE:MMM) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $152.96 and last traded at $151.34, with a volume of 4285823 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $151.52.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MMM shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $96.00 price target on shares of 3M in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Melius Research upgraded 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised shares of 3M from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $130.00 to $184.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Melius raised shares of 3M from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of 3M in a report on Saturday, January 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.87.

3M Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $82.42 billion, a PE ratio of 20.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $133.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $129.89.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The conglomerate reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. 3M had a return on equity of 100.77% and a net margin of 15.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that 3M will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

3M Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. 3M’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.09%.

Insider Transactions at 3M

In other news, CAO Theresa E. Reinseth sold 2,309 shares of 3M stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.95, for a total transaction of $346,234.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,329.15. The trade was a 34.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Christian T. Goralski, Jr. sold 6,318 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.43, for a total transaction of $944,098.74. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,024 shares in the company, valued at $750,736.32. This trade represents a 55.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 62,291 shares of company stock valued at $9,339,786. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of 3M

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MMM. Creative Planning increased its holdings in 3M by 7.5% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 151,763 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $15,509,000 after buying an additional 10,599 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 3M by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 62,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,387,000 after purchasing an additional 8,220 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in 3M by 1.0% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,487 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,480,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in 3M by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 183,925 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $18,795,000 after acquiring an additional 17,793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ariadne Wealth Management LP acquired a new stake in 3M in the 2nd quarter valued at about $245,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.25% of the company’s stock.

3M Company Profile

3M Company provides diversified technology services in the United States and internationally. The company’s Safety and Industrial segment offers industrial abrasives and finishing for metalworking applications; autobody repair solutions; closure systems for personal hygiene products, masking, and packaging materials; electrical products and materials for construction and maintenance, power distribution, and electrical original equipment manufacturers; structural adhesives and tapes; respiratory, hearing, eye, and fall protection solutions; and natural and color-coated mineral granules for shingles.