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

StockNews.com lowered shares of J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on SJM. Barclays lowered their target price on J. M. Smucker from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on J. M. Smucker from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen downgraded J. M. Smucker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $130.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on J. M. Smucker from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, J. M. Smucker currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $126.13.

J. M. Smucker Stock Performance

Shares of J. M. Smucker stock opened at $109.32 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $11.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $106.17 and its 200-day moving average is $112.99. J. M. Smucker has a one year low of $98.77 and a one year high of $127.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

J. M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. J. M. Smucker had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 5.96%. Equities analysts predict that J. M. Smucker will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J. M. Smucker Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. J. M. Smucker’s payout ratio is -179.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Tucker H. Marshall sold 994 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $112,322.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,116,942. This represents a 5.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 3.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J. M. Smucker

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of J. M. Smucker by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 324,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,721,000 after purchasing an additional 11,339 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 6.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $587,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,361,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,082,000 after buying an additional 192,748 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of J. M. Smucker in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,273,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of J. M. Smucker by 336.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 12,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after buying an additional 9,982 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

About J. M. Smucker

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.