Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. Takes Position in 3M (NYSE:MMM)

Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in 3M (NYSE:MMM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 2,020 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MMM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 3M by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,033,679 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,590,533,000 after acquiring an additional 317,483 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 3M by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,311,747 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,334,173,000 after acquiring an additional 196,238 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 3M by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,474,791 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,203,635,000 after acquiring an additional 619,370 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 3M by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,315,417 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,684,639,000 after acquiring an additional 758,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of 3M by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,769,973 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,291,535,000 after buying an additional 825,223 shares during the last quarter. 65.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 3M news, insider Rodriguez Beatriz Karin Chavez sold 426 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.32, for a total value of $39,328.32. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $366,141.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised shares of 3M from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $111.00 to $126.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of 3M in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of 3M in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $84.00 price target on shares of 3M in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of 3M from $112.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.60.

3M Stock Up 0.7 %

3M stock traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $105.36. The stock had a trading volume of 1,439,042 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,055,671. The company has a market cap of $58.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.35, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $96.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.74. 3M has a 52 week low of $85.35 and a 52 week high of $113.14.

3M (NYSE:MMM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.11. 3M had a negative net margin of 21.40% and a positive return on equity of 62.45%. The firm had revenue of $8.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that 3M will post 9.77 EPS for the current year.

3M Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were given a $1.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.73%. This is a positive change from 3M’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. 3M’s dividend payout ratio is currently -47.82%.

About 3M

3M Company provides diversified technology services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Safety and Industrial; Transportation and Electronics; Health Care; and Consumer. The 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.