StockNews.com Lowers J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) to Sell

StockNews.com downgraded shares of J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Friday morning.

SJM has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $122.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup lowered their price target on J. M. Smucker from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays decreased their target price on J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $121.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. DA Davidson reiterated a neutral rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of J. M. Smucker in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded J. M. Smucker to a strong sell rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $127.25.

J. M. Smucker Stock Performance

SJM opened at $120.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $12.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $117.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.48. J. M. Smucker has a 1-year low of $105.69 and a 1-year high of $142.24.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.17 by $0.27. J. M. Smucker had a return on equity of 14.22% and a net margin of 8.77%. The company had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that J. M. Smucker will post 9.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J. M. Smucker Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This is a boost from J. M. Smucker’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. J. M. Smucker’s dividend payout ratio is 60.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other J. M. Smucker news, CEO Mark T. Smucker sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.16, for a total transaction of $1,101,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,675,871.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J. M. Smucker

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,471,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,702,515,000 after buying an additional 518,433 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of J. M. Smucker during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $364,990,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in J. M. Smucker by 8.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,783,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,435,000 after purchasing an additional 135,158 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in J. M. Smucker by 14.4% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,526,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,403,000 after purchasing an additional 192,075 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in J. M. Smucker by 29.0% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,457,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,518,000 after purchasing an additional 327,680 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

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.