Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Cuts Position in The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,166 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,364 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in J. M. Smucker were worth $3,054,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in shares of J. M. Smucker in the third quarter worth $464,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 15.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 277,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,103,000 after purchasing an additional 36,296 shares during the last quarter. Ardevora Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of J. M. Smucker in the 4th quarter worth about $11,147,000. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of J. M. Smucker by 58.3% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 238,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,085,000 after purchasing an additional 87,682 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of J. M. Smucker in the third quarter valued at about $5,522,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on SJM shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on J. M. Smucker from $153.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on J. M. Smucker from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com raised J. M. Smucker from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised J. M. Smucker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, J. M. Smucker has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeannette L. Knudsen sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.77, for a total value of $399,264.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,116,192.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

J. M. Smucker Price Performance

NYSE SJM opened at $113.11 on Friday. The J. M. Smucker Company has a twelve month low of $107.33 and a twelve month high of $159.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.01 billion, a PE ratio of -128.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $118.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $120.67.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. J. M. Smucker had a positive return on equity of 14.29% and a negative net margin of 1.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that The J. M. Smucker Company will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

J. M. Smucker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is currently -481.81%.

J. M. Smucker 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.