J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on SJM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised J. M. Smucker from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $135.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on J. M. Smucker in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a neutral rating and a $132.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price target on J. M. Smucker from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on J. M. Smucker from $153.00 to $152.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, J. M. Smucker presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $137.20.

J. M. Smucker Stock Performance

Shares of SJM stock opened at $123.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -140.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.21. The business has a fifty day moving average of $126.11 and a 200 day moving average of $121.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.38. J. M. Smucker has a 1 year low of $107.33 and a 1 year high of $159.92.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. J. M. Smucker had a positive return on equity of 14.29% and a negative net margin of 1.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that J. M. Smucker will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $1.06 per share. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. J. M. Smucker’s payout ratio is -481.81%.

Institutional Trading of J. M. Smucker

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in J. M. Smucker by 85,116.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,102,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,130,000 after acquiring an additional 2,099,830 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in J. M. Smucker in the 4th quarter valued at about $219,033,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in J. M. Smucker by 487.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,459,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,961,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210,837 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in J. M. Smucker by 363.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,274,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,258,000 after acquiring an additional 999,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in J. M. Smucker by 21,858.1% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 680,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,027,000 after acquiring an additional 677,600 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.